 Avraham Rachamim Chaim Sofer Flyer |
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The Corona Virus 2- Daily Halachic Corner – 95 – Rav Dayan Elgrod!Breslev English 16March2020
 US State Dept. 19March2020 tweet: Travel Advisory: Level 4 – The Department of State advises U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of #COVID19. In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the US should arrange for immediate return.
U.S. Department of State Global Level 4 Health Advisory – Do Not TravelGlobal Health Advisory March 19, 2020 https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/travel-advisory-alert-global-level-4-health-advisory-issue.html Level 4: Do Not TravelThe Department of State advises U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19. In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period. U.S. citizens who live abroad should avoid all international travel. Many countries are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and implementing travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines, closing borders, and prohibiting non-citizens from entry with little advance notice. Airlines have cancelled many international flights and several cruise operators have suspended operations or cancelled trips. If you choose to travel internationally, your travel plans may be severely disrupted, and you may be forced to remain outside of the United States for an indefinite timeframe. On March 14, the Department of State authorized the departure of U.S. personnel and family members from any diplomatic or consular post in the world who have determined they are at higher risk of a poor outcome if exposed to COVID-19 or who have requested departure based on a commensurate justification. These departures may limit the ability of U.S. Embassies and consulates to provide services to U.S. citizens. For the latest information regarding COVID-19, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website. You are encouraged to visit travel.state.gov to view individual Travel Advisories for the most urgent threats to safety and security. Please also visit the website of the relevant U.S. embassy or consulate to see information on entry restrictions, foreign quarantine policies, and urgent health information provided by local governments. Travelers are urged to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency. The Department uses these Alerts to convey information about terrorist threats, security incidents, planned demonstrations, natural disasters, etc. In an emergency, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate or call the following numbers: 1(888) 407-4747 (toll-free in the United States and Canada) or 1 (202) 501-4444 from other countries or jurisdictions. If you decide to travel abroad or are already outside the United States:
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Israel turns parking lots into medical centers for COVID-19 patientsThe final war – What has been is what will be – The fall of the new world order |
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Symptoms: COVID-19 vs. Cold or Flu | Do you have a Fever and a Dry Cough? Symptoms: COVID-19 vs. Cold or Flu https://regenexx.com/blog/coronavirus-myths-debunked/ Aditional Symptoms: Loss of smell Loss of sense of smell as marker of COVID
 Coronavirus remains in the throat for four days. For Example:
 Caroline-Glick-Latma-tweet-18March2020 Latma Studio Coronavirus Cough  Coronavirus-Why did the Chicken cross the road These are not the Symptoms of Coronavirus COVID-19: If you have these Symptoms It is time to get off your Apple iPhone or other Smartphone and go to bed.
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The Truth is coming out! Italy’s Covid-19 Death tally is a 97% FICTION
Italy’s suspected covid death tally corrected from 132,161 to 3,783… this is where covid hysteria began, and it was 97% FICTION03November2021 by: Lance D Johnson https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-11-03-italys-covid-death-tally-falls-from-132161-to-3783.html (Natural News) A new report from Italy’s Higher Institute of Health provides an objective analysis of the nation’s misleading covid-19 death tally. Italy’s official covid death tally rose to 132,161 in October of 2021. This tally is unrealistic because covid-19 was diagnosed in haste and under conditions of financial bribery using non-specific diagnostic criteria. Covid-19 was often listed as the cause of death when it was merely “suspected” and when “it could not be ruled out.” After careful review of the medical reports, it turns out that respiratory infections may have been a contributing factor but did not cause most of these covid-19 deaths outright. Various forms of medical malpractice, withheld treatment, inhumane isolation, undernourishment, and unethical standards of care are at the root of this worldwide medical crisis. The deaths are real, but the causes are skewed. New medical analysis reduces Italy’s covid-19 death tally by 97.1%A new analysis reduced Italy’s covid-19 death tally by 97.1 percent and provided a more accurate picture as to why these people died in the hospital. Only 3,783 cases could be directly correlated with a covid-19 diagnosis. Because the PCR test (that was designed to detect covid-19) was fraudulently-calibrated from the start, even these 3,783 cases of covid-19 are suspect. Symptoms of respiratory infection could have been the result of any number of infections that kill people every year, whether that be influenza, tuberculosis, pneumonia or countless other lower and upper respiratory tract infections. Viral infections do not have the same effect on one person to the next due to several underlying factors including the cellular and microbiome terrain, so it is extremely difficult to accurately diagnose a specific respiratory infection and quantify viral load. According to this new analysis, only 2.9% of the deaths registered since the end of February 2020 have been caused by the novel SARS coronavirus that has never been isolated from humans and replicated in human tissue samples. The annual respiratory infections, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, medical errors and other acute medical emergencies that usually cause overcrowding in hospitals were used as propaganda to terrorize and defraud the world into perpetual lock down. The covid-19 death tally included Italians who suffered from one to five underlying chronic diseases; many were on immune suppressant drugs, and a certain percentage died from medical emergencies that are totally unrelated to covid-19. A total of 67.7% suffered from more than three chronic diseases that had not been resolved through modern medicine. Italians who were already suffering from chronic conditions went on to suffer further from ventilator-associated pneumonia and ventilator-associated lung damage. One in ten of the deceased patients had a stroke; 65.8% of the Italians had arterial hypertension and were on immune-suppressant drugs; 15.7% suffered from heart failure; 28% had ischemic heart disease; and 24.8% suffered from atrial fibrillation. At least 17.4% already had sick lungs. Many (29.3% had diabetes and other metabolic ailments) that drastically impacted their immune response. There were several patients (16.3%) who were on their deathbed, struggling on immunosuppressant chemotherapy and radiation drugs known to make people susceptible to any respiratory infection. These cancer patients had been dealing with cancer for the past five years, with an average three-to-five-year chemotherapy survival rate coming to a close. Another 23.5% were struggling with dementia, their life coming to a close. Unethical, inhumane practices have been implemented in medical systems worldwideEver since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a worldwide pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, medical systems around the world have handled hospitalized patients differently. Patients with any sort of respiratory symptom were isolated and separated from family members. “Out of an abundance of caution,” hospital systems made vague diagnoses, classifying anyone “suspected of covid” as an official case of SARS-CoV-2. These patients were viewed as highly contagious vectors of disease that should be isolated and put on mechanical ventilation. Efficacious treatments were bypassed. People dying on ventilators were classified as covid deaths “when covid-19 could not be ruled out as the primary cause of their death.” As terror and fear were propagated across the media, hospital systems put non-urgent, elective procedures on hold, suspending routine outpatient services that left many chronic patients without adequate medical care. Industrialized nations like Italy did not implement at-home treatment plans and did not distribute nutraceuticals and prophylactics to help control respiratory disease in the population. This caused populations to be dependent on an already overcrowded system that is not set up to deal with panic, ignorance and helplessness. As nations continue to put all their stock in retrovirus-contaminated influenza vaccines and experimental gene interference coronavirus vaccines, people continue to suffer and die, even as countless anti-viral, bronco-dilating, anti-inflammatory immune therapies exist. Sources include: |
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People need to listen and obey the Health Ministry Directions and STOP SMOKING, LOSE WEIGHT AND DRINKING ALCOHOL or do you want this[JerusalemCats Comments: They never said that!]When the instructions say “Stay 2 Meters away from People” they mean it! AND WEAR A MASK!! Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy Edward Livingston, MD; Karen Bucher, MA, CMI JAMA Infographic March 17, 2020 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763401?guestAccessKey=72f61225-c3fd-4fb1-81fd-09b6a1666aaa&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=031720 |
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Italian Doctor Implores Rest Of World: “Lock Your Nations Down Now… Or Face This!”by Tyler Durden 20March2020 https://www.zerohedge.com/health/italian-doctor-implores-rest-world-lock-your-nations-dow-now-or-face Judging by the following extremely disturbing news story from Sky News, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman was on to something when he warned President Trump that “hell is coming.”
The crisis gripping the town at the centre of the global COVID-19 crisis in Italy has been witnessed by Sky News’ Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay., who exclaims: “they’re fighting a war here… and they’re losing.”
 Italy covid-19 ICU Patient
Italy has hit a grim milestone in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic… with deaths now soaring above China’s:
 Italy vs. China covid-19 dead
…and authorities there want to send a warning to the rest of the world:
The shocking centre of the COVID-19 crisis |
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This is the reason to isolate.
It’s Not “Just The Flu”: Here’s Why You Definitely Don’t Want To Catch COVID-19…by Tyler Durden 24March2020 https://www.zerohedge.com/health/its-not-just-flu-heres-why-you-definitely-dont-want-catch-covid-19 Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com, Can you imagine being in “blinding pain” for weeks, constantly gasping for air as you feel like you are being suffocated, and screaming for mercy because you are in so much constant torment? As you will see below, coronavirus survivors are telling us about their hellish ordeals, and they are warning us to do everything that we can to avoid this virus. Of course they are the lucky ones. As I detailed in another article, the global death toll has doubled over the past six days, and so far the very high death rate in the United States is extremely alarming. So those that survive should consider themselves to be very fortunate, but many of those same individuals will be left with permanent lung damage. This virus attacks the respiratory system with a ferocity that is shocking doctors, and those that are still attempting to claim that COVID-19 is “just like the flu” need to stop, because they are just making things worse.
Researchers have found that this virus has an incubation period of up to 24 days, and people can spread it around long before they are showing any symptoms. And you don’t even have to encounter someone with the virus to catch it. According to Bloomberg, new research has discovered that this virus can remain on surfaces “for as many as 17 days”…
When you combine those two factors, it makes COVID-19 nearly impossible to contain. This is a major emergency, and it makes me angry that there are prominent voices out there that are still trying to downplay this pandemic. As a result, many people are not taking proper precautions, and a lot of them are going to end up catching the virus. If you are reading this and you still don’t think that COVID-19 is a big deal, please take a moment to consider the following five stories about coronavirus survivors… #1 26-year-old Fiona Lowenstein
#2 55-year-old Kevin Harris
#3 25-year-old Connor Reed
#4 39-year-old Tara Jane Langston
#5 A 12-year-old girl in Georgia named Emma
As you can see, this virus is not just hitting “old people” extremely hard. But if you are above the age of 60, please understand that you at very high risk, and you need to stay away from public places for the foreseeable future. I know that it can be hard to stay home day after day, but this is truly a very, very deadly virus. At this point, even doctors and nurses are “scared to go to work”…
As I have been writing this article, over 2,000 more confirmed cases were added to the rapidly growing total here in the United States. And as I discussed yesterday, it looks like the U.S. is going to have a very high death rate just like we are seeing in western European countries such as Italy and Spain. So please take this pandemic very seriously. A lot of Americans are going to die, and it is going to be a great national tragedy. Please pray for those that have caught the virus and are deeply suffering. It is in our darkest moments that we need a miracle the most, and there are a whole lot of people out there that need one right now. |
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From the Lancet: Real estimates of mortality following COVID-19 infectionDavid Baud | Xiaolong Qi | Karin Nielsen-Saines | Didier Musso | Léo Pomar | Guillaume Favre
One Third Of All Coronavirus Cases Show No Symptoms, Classified China Data Revealsby Tyler Durden 22March2020 – https://www.zerohedge.com/health/one-third-all-coronavirus-cases-show-no-symptoms-classified-china-data-reveals China, which has been praising itself for its draconian response in shutting down much of the country for most of February and thus halting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic domestically (at least if one ignores the glaring discrepancies from reports on the ground), may have a new problem on its hands. According to the South China Morning Post, which cited classified data from the Chinese government, as many as a third of the people who test positive for the coronavirus – also known as “silent carriers” – may show delayed symptoms or none at all. The data show that 43,000 people in China tested positive by the end of February, but had no actual symptoms, the newspaper reported. They were quarantined and monitored, though as we noted last month, in a radical change in how China is underreporting the severity of the disease, asymptomatic cases aren’t included in China’s tally of those infected with the virus. “The number of novel coronavirus cases worldwide continues to grow, and the gap between reports from China and statistical estimates of incidence based on cases diagnosed outside China indicates that a substantial number of cases are underdiagnosed,” a group of Japanese experts led by Hiroshi Nishiura, an epidemiologist at Hokkaido University, wrote in a letter to the International Journal of Infectious Diseases in February. Based on his research, Nishiura put the proportion of asymptomatic Japanese patients evacuated from Wuhan, ground zero of the outbreak in China, at 30.8 per cent – similar to the classified Chinese government data.
In Hong Kong, 16 of the 138 confirmed cases as of March 14 were asymptomatic or presymptomatic, according to Ho Pak-leung, a professor with the microbiology department of the University of Hong Kong. All of these numbers point to a significantly higher ratio of asymptomatic cases than indicated by data publicly released by China so far. There were 889 asymptomatic patients among the 44,672 confirmed cases as of February 11, epidemiologists from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in a paper published online in JAMA Network Open on February 24. A separate study by scientists from the University of Texas at Austin estimated that people who had not yet developed symptoms transmitted around 10 per cent of the 450 cases they studied in 93 Chinese cities. Their findings are awaiting publication in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Ho from the University of Hong Kong said some asymptomatic patients had a viral load similar to those with symptoms.
As Bloomberg notes, the novel virus has been described as “insidious” because many infected people are well enough to go about their daily business, unwittingly spreading it to others as symptoms begin to appear on average five to six days after infection. While scientists have been unable to agree on what role asymptomatic transmission plays in spreading the disease, they do know that the virus appears to cause a mild illness lasting about two weeks in children, adolescents and younger adults in most cases, and potentially more severe disease lasting three to six weeks in older people. The bottom line is that the propagation of “silent carriers” and high rate of asymptomatic cases can complicate efforts to stop the spread of the disease which has infected more than 280,000 people and killed nearly 13,000 globally, because many countries aren’t testing people unless they’re seriously ill, the newspaper reported. It also means that with thousands of asymptomatic carriers roaming around the population, confident they are free of the disease, secondary and tertiary break outs are virtually guaranteed even for populations which, like China, claim to have defeated the pandemic. |
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THIS NEEDS TO GO EVERYWHERE!14 Elul 5780 02September020 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2020/09/this-needs-to-go-everywhere.html Analysis and presentation of the facts of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: Enough!Give backing to the Rabbonim who don’t want to go ahead with the decrees anymore.
[Excerpts from the letter] There is no place in Torah for a Jewish community to be governed by a committee of medical doctors. Nor by an unelected committee composed of Rabbonim, politicians and doctors. |
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SPECIAL TU B’SHEVAT GUEST POST15 Shevat 5781 22January2021 https://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2021/01/special-tu-bshevat-guest-post.html Snitching in the TorahSocietal trends indicate that those who are accosting others for not obeying tyrannical restrictions based on dubious science will soon take the next step and inform on them to authorities. This is the norm in authoritarian regimes, and it has become increasingly common in what used to be known as the free world. It is only a matter of time before “religious” Jews become susceptible to this as well (it’s already happening in some places). Anything can be rationalized in the name of “saving lives”, especially when such behavior is the societal norm. As always, the Torah is rich with insight for those who are interested in being guided by it before making up their minds. Those who make up their minds first and then seek sources to support themselves can always find or finagle something (“we have to protect lives, case closed”). Those who seek the truth will find a harmonious balance between seemingly conflicting sources to achieve a balanced perspective. Sometimes, though, the sources will be so clear that one must be completely biased and intellectually dishonest to take the other side. That is the case when it comes to snitching. I hope this essay preempts religious Jews from taking the wrong side and then justifying it after the fact when social pressure demands it of them. To be clear, this does not refer to cases of “לא תעמוד על דם רעך”, “do not stand idly by while your fellow’s blood is being spilled”. If a person is being physically attacked, or a spouse or child is being abused, for example, we have a biblical duty to rescue the victim. If a doctor is negligent or is conducting medical experiments on patients, he must be reported. However, we must not be misled into extending this concept beyond incontrovertible, direct assaults on human life. We must not redefine benign human behavior as a potential murder in progress and report those who engage in such behavior, particularly when it is a secular government behind the push to inform on people. Such governments historically have never had the greater good in mind when encouraging widespread snitching – only their own. Let’s review a small but representative sample of pertinent sources. 1) Chazal teach that the Jews in Egypt were persecuted at least in part because they had informers. (Shemos 2:14, Rashi, from the Midrash) Although it is easy for us to view Moshe as the hero for killing an Egyptian who was beating a Jew, at the time it was surely controversial. Moshe’s actions might have brought retribution upon everyone else. It could easily have been rationalized that Moshe had acted recklessly and endangered others, and turning him in was the responsible thing to do for the benefit of society. However, Chazal teach us that not only was this NOT the right thing to do, informing on Moshe was the sort of behavior that justified their suffering in the first place! Ceasing this behavior was one of the merits that brought about their redemption. (See Shir Hashirim Rabba 4:12:1) 2) Enemies of the Jews informed on Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya for not bowing to Nevuchadnezzar’s golden statue. They were miraculously saved, and those who informed on them were put to death in their place. (Daniel, Chapter 3) While this story does not directly relate to Jews informing on other Jews for reasons that can be rationalized, the moral justice in the informants being put to death in their place jumps off the page. 3) The second Bais Hamikdash was destroyed in part because of the incident with Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, in which the latter informed on the Jews. (Gittin 55B) \The main takeaway for purposes of this discussion is that the consequences of harboring informants could not be greater. Jews snitching on other Jews is directly responsible for all the suffering we have experienced for thousands of years, to this very day. 4) Chazal wonder why the Jews in the time of King David would fall in battle, despite being extremely proficient in Torah. They explain that his generation had many informers. Doeg and Achitofel peddled lashon hara, which endangered David’s life and led to the murder of an entire city of Kohanim. The people of Ke’ila and Ziv both informed on David when he was on the run from Shaul. It is evident that snitching on fellow Jews was socially acceptable at the time. Such behavior is repugnant to God, and He let the Jews fall in battle because of it. Chazal contrast this with the time of Achav, in which everyone served idolatry, yet their enemies fell in battle before them. Why? Because they did not have informers among them. Achav went about murdering all the true prophets in his kingdom. Ovadya hid a hundred prophets in two separate caves for an extended time and supplied them with provisions. Many Jews were surely aware of this. Imagine the wagon loads of supplies that had to be prepared and delivered on a regular basis. Ovadya’s “crime” against the government was an open secret, yet not one person reported on him. For this alone – in spite of their rampant idolatry – Hashem protected them in battle. (Vayikra Rabba Parsha 26 and other places) We must appreciate the fact that David was a fugitive and Ovadya was flouting the law. Anyone who assisted David was engaging in criminal behavior, for which the punishment was execution. Those who knew his whereabouts were expected to report him immediately. So declared the government, and good citizens were expected to comply. That was the law of the land! But God expected the Jews to ignore this law. If they saw David hiding they were expected to look the other way. Shaul could find his own enemies; they didn’t need to mix in. Similarly, Achav held true prophets to be “threats to public safety” and “enemies of the state”. Jews who worshiped idolatry certainly had no affection for such people, who made it their life’s mission to oppose idolatry. It would have been easy for them to accept the slanderous propaganda against true prophets and rationalize turning them in. Nevertheless, Ovadya successfully hid and supported a hundred prophets, and no one said a word to the king. They minded their own business. 5) We live in a time when advocating for the devil is somehow seen as a virtue. The following source is an absolute checkmate to anyone who wishes to nitpick with applying the previous sources to the current situation. In chapter 7 of Yehoshua, when the Jews were taking possession of Israel, the Jews suffered casualties in battle against the city of Ai. It was incomprehensible that a Jew should fall in battle; such was the divine protection that they were used to. Anything but a perfect victory meant that something was terribly wrong. Yehoshua grieved and cried out to God. God notified him that there was a sinner in Israel whose crimes were responsible for the loss of divine protection. According to Chazal, Yehoshua asked God who was the sinner. God replied: “Am I your informer?” Instead, Yehoshua had to identify the culprit through a lottery. Although God made sure the lottery would point to the sinner, Achan, God did not name names. Yehoshua had to investigate and find it out for himself. (Sanhedrin 43B) This is a remarkable source. Achan was directly responsible for the death of Jews. God had singled him out as a sinner who should be executed. Until this was done, the Jews would be vulnerable to their enemies and unable to conquer the land of Israel. Nevertheless, God scorned the very notion of being an informer! Yehoshua would have to go through a complicated procedure to identify the criminal. All this, just to drive home how despicable it is to snitch on a fellow Jew. Those who are susceptible to thinking that it is virtuous to inform on Jews who might be violating a dubious health regulation had best take note. You are playing with serious fire. No matter how you want to try to spin it and rationalize it, the Torah sources are NOT on your side. Indeed, there is not a single primary Torah source in which informing is spoken of in positive terms. While there are times when criminals must be turned in, as noted in the beginning of this essay, they are extremely limited and clearly defined, and cannot be applied to the current situation. At the very most, if someone is definitively infectious and spreading a virus to others through reckless behavior, some form of intervention may be appropriate. (Rav Moshe Shternbuch recently made the same limited distinction, while calling for informers to be ostracized). Aside from this, people should take whatever precautions for themselves that they feel are appropriate, and otherwise mind their own business. The Torah sources are abundantly clear that snitching on fellow Jews – even when they are sinners, even when they are criminals – is generally a most contemptible act. It is responsible for some of the greatest tragedies in our history, and we suffer from the consequences to this very day. Many are taking the commandment to guard our lives and the lives of others to the wildest of extremes. We must remember that the Torah provides checks and balances to prevent us from going overboard with one mitzva to the detriment of everything else. The clear prohibition against snitching on fellow Jews is a critical reminder that not everything can be justified in the name of “public health” and “the good of society”. This is especially true when a secular government with its own agenda – one that is always highly suspect – is setting the standard. The fear and hysteria that have gripped society are leading people to rationalize monstrous things in the name of “potentially saving lives”. We are dangerously close to living in fear of our friends and neighbors informing on one another for any slight infraction of regulations that can be construed as “dangerous” to others. This is the real danger, far greater than a virus. We are at risk of tearing our society apart and driving away our divine protection. God hates informers. God hates a society in which informing on others is normative. Only God can protect us from the virus, and only God can protect us from everything else that threatens us. We cannot afford to jeopardize this divine protection. Whatever you think about the situation and how others are dealing with it, do not inform on your fellow Jew. Period. __________________________ Fake Torah and Fake ScienceAs the noose of censorship continues to tighten around the free flow of information, I applaud Arutz Sheva for being one of the few media sites to publish articles both supporting and challenging the experimental vaccine. I am convinced that the former are extremely misleading and dangerous, but I support both sides being allowed to present their case, particularly when the long-term effects of the experimental vaccine cannot possibly be known. Those who are promoting censorship do not deserve your trust on this or anything else. When in doubt, do the opposite of what they suggest. Arutz Sheva published two articles today that are valuable not for their content per se, but because they demonstrate the speciousness of those pushing the experimental vaccine. One article shows how some rabbis are manipulating people through false Torah, and the other shows how establishment “experts” are manipulating people through false science. You do not need to be a talmid chacham or have a medical degree to see this. Trust your ability to discern truth from falsehood if that is indeed your desire. This is a God-given ability and God expects us to use it. In one article, a rabbi writes as follows: Q. Does a Jew have a religious right to reject the Covid-19 vaccine? A. If they decide not to be vaccinated it could endanger both himself and other people. Rabbi Yaakov Emden said, “Once the doctor recognises a definite need to administer a tested treatment, a patient, even if he objects, must submit under all circumstances. The matter does not depend on the consent of the patient since he is not free to destroy himself” (Mor U’k’tzia to Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayyim 328). Note that the rabbi says, “Once the doctor recognises a definite need”. This excludes being swayed by rumours and unscientific opinions. ************************************************************************** Before addressing the rabbi’s answer, it is important to note that we are talking about a matter of life and death, with many sides to the issue. We would expect a scholarly response filled with numerous Torah sources, detailed analysis, and a comprehensive understanding of the science behind his conclusion that takes multiple viewpoints into account. It would make us all smarter and more informed. Instead, we are treated to a single Torah source, which is entirely irrelevant (as I will soon explain), and an arrogant dismissal of anyone who disagrees as an unscientific rumor-monger. There is nothing rabbinic in this treatment of such a serious issue, on which the science is indeed far from conclusive (despite the relentless propaganda to the contrary), and on which the stakes could not be higher. Basically, the rabbi is saying, “Here’s a Torah source, the other people are idiots, now run and get injected.” It’s a disgrace. Furthermore, if this is the best source one can find to encourage people to get injected, then they are truly grasping at straws. Consider: 1) Rabbi Emden refers to a person who is already sick, already a patient. Such a person requires medical treatment. We are dealing with perfectly healthy people, who are not medical patients, and who are being asked to undergo a medical treatment anyway. 2) Rabbi Emden refers to a doctor who recognizes a definite need to provide a proven treatment. There is no definite need for perfectly healthy people to take an experimental vaccine, only a speculative one. In addition, by definition the experimental vaccine is not a proven treatment, not even close. There is not a single woman in the world who took the experimental vaccine, subsequently became pregnant, and delivered a healthy baby. It has not even been in use long enough for that to be possible! Scientists, politicians, and media shills can insist that it is safe, but they have all been wrong before, and countless trusting people have paid the price. For a rabbi to suggest that there is a definite need for healthy people to take this, and that it is a proven treatment, is highly irresponsible and false. 3) The rabbi concludes that those who disagree with his response – which rests on a single Torah source taken completely out of context, and blind reliance on the establishment – are spreading unscientific rumors. This is neither Torah nor a scientific approach to an experimental treatment, and his cavalier insistence that people take this experimental vaccine is reprehensible. The second article reads as follows: The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has apparently caused a number of side-effects not anticipated by the producers, a department manager at Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer said Tuesday. Professor Galia Rahav, chief of the Infectious Disease Unit and Laboratories at the Sheba Medical Center, spoke with Kan Reshet Bet Tuesday about the newly-discovered side-effects some people have reported experiencing after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The new side-effects range from paraesthesia – a nerve condition causing a tingling sensation or ‘pins and needles’ – to facial nerve paralysis. “When we noticed this and spoke with [the company], they started to get reports about this,” said Rahav. “At the beginning, they said that it was just hysterical women, but it doesn’t seem that way, because we’re seeing this with men as well.” Prof. Rahav emphasized that the side-effects are likely temporary, and that it is not yet certain that the vaccine caused the reactions. But, she added, since the vaccine is new “we need to examine it, to learn, and to observe.” “We’re just now learning about the effectiveness of the vaccine in real life. In real, day to day life, you learn different things. The effectiveness is a little different. When you vaccinate 2.5 million people in one shot, obviously we’re going to see different things happening.”
********************************************************************* Notice that Pfizer received reports of troubling side-effects, and they dismissed them as coming from “hysterical women”. This is science? This is medical ethics? Sheba Medical Center accepted this cold, dismissive response and continued administering the experimental vaccine unabated. Lo and behold, there were some hysterical men who suffered these side effects as well. Not to worry. “Prof. Rahav emphasized that the side-effects are likely temporary.” How does she know? She doesn’t. She can’t. But she emphasized it. Keep injecting. These are the vaunted “experts” we keep hearing about? She then blithely acknowledged that because this vaccine is new, they are “just now learning about the effectiveness of the vaccine in real life”, and of course so much is still unknown. In other words, the millions of people trusting the “experts” and the “rabbis” are guinea pigs in the largest medical experiment ever performed on the human race. And Israel is volunteering its citizens to this experiment more than any other country. How can rabbis declare that this experimental medical procedure is an obligation? How can they declare that it is safe? How can some even rule that we say a special blessing when we receive it? Would that be hagomel if we survive or dayan emes if not? How can “experts” be so dismissive of horrific side effects? How can they insist that it is safe even as they are forced to admit that there is so little they really know? I will not mince words. Any rabbi who rules that people have an obligation to undergo this experimental medical treatment has lost his credibility as a rabbi, and his rulings are null and void. Any medical practitioner who tells you this experimental medical treatment is proven to be safe should be sued for medical malpractice and forbidden to ever work in the field again. Any media source that tells you the same has discredited themselves and everything they say should forever be received with skepticism. Any politician who attempts to coerce or pressure people to undergo this experimental medical treatment should be booted out of office, and perhaps down the road be put on trial for corruption and crimes against his people. We need to investigate who might own them. Considering the dearth of Torah sources that indicate one should be a guinea pig for this experimental vaccine, the preposterous claims of establishment “health experts”, and the relentless propaganda urging us to line up and inject, I urge everyone to do just the opposite. I fear that in the coming weeks and months we will witness unspeakable carnage among our people. It will be too vast to continue to cover up and explain away with pseudo-science. Hopefully I am wrong and this turns out to be a wonder drug after all. However, this does not seem to be the case, and the more they push people to take it, the more difficult it is to trust the Torah or the science behind them. I have no personal vested interest, no agenda, and no conflict of interest. I am presenting Torah and information to the best of my ability, with the sincere goal of helping people make smarter decisions for themselves. Both sides have been presented. Think for yourself; truly think. Do not make life and death decisions out of fear, panic, mental fatigue, peer pressure, or blind trust in any rabbi or “expert”. It is your life, and it is your responsibility to protect it. If you make the wrong decision, neither the rabbi nor the “expert” will be able to help you. I tried. May God save us. |
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GUEST POST: “ON FEAR AND FAITH”16 Shevat 5781 29 January 2021 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2021/01/guest-post-on-fear-and-faith.html Please read and share with others. I count on those who appreciate my work to do so. Good Shabbos, On Fear and FaithParshas Beshalach covers the infancy of the Jewish people as a free nation. After the incredible salvation they just experienced, we would expect them to fully believe in Hashem and Moshe. Wouldn’t you? Instead, our ancestors behaved with maddening inconsistency throughout the events in this parsha. They vacillated between the two opposite extremes of faith and fear. (The recognition that faith and fear are indeed opposites is a fundamental lesson unto itself.) Consider the following roller-coaster of faith and fear: The story begins with one of the brightest moments in Jewish history. The entire nation, millions of people, followed Moshe into the desert with minimal provisions. What incredible faith in Hashem! The Jews left Egypt armed to the teeth and with an exalted hand. Nevertheless, Hashem led them on a circuitous route to avoid the Plishtim, lest the Jews turn tail and flee back to Egypt at the first sign of war. After all they had experienced, their faith was still extremely fragile. When Pharaoh’s army approached them, they were immediately struck with terror and lost all their confidence. They berated Moshe for leading them to their death, and wish he’d never gotten involved in the first place. It was as if all the miracles they experienced never happened. The Midrash teaches that there were in fact four camps among the Jews. One camp wanted to throw themselves into the sea and commit suicide, rather than fall into the hands of the Egyptians. One camp wanted to surrender and return to Egypt as slaves. One camp wanted to fight. One camp wanted to pray. The first two camps were obviously short on faith. The camp that wanted to fight also demonstrated a lack of faith, for they had abandoned any pretense of a divine plan and sought to take matters entirely into their own hands. It seems the camp that wanted to pray was guilty of this as well, for they should have believed that everything was under control. The Jews should have simply awaited further instructions from Moshe and marched forward with confidence. After Hashem split the sea, rescued the Jews, and killed the Egyptian army, the Jews achieved an extremely high level of faith. They sang Az Yashir, which is incorporated into our daily prayers. All was well. Three days later they were short on water. The only water they found was bitter and undrinkable. Once again, instead of trusting that Hashem had everything under control and asking for water, they complained about Moshe. Hashem had Moshe throw a bitter plant into the bitter water, and the water miraculously turned sweet. Then the Jews complained some more. They reminisced about the good old days in Egypt, when they had all the bread they wanted. Now they were all going to die in the desert. God brought them man from heaven in the morning and meat at night. Moshe instructed the Jews to take only what they needed for the coming day and not save any for the next day. Some Jews feared that God wouldn’t continue to feed them and left over man, which became wormy and spoiled. Moshe instructed the Jews not to go out on Shabbos in search of extra food, which they wouldn’t even need, but some Jews went out anyway. The Jews traveled further, and once again ran out of water. Once again they quarreled with Moshe, to the point that he thought they would stone him. Finally, Amalek came and waged war against the Jews. When the Jews looked to Moshe and trusted in Hashem, they overpowered Amalek. When their faith faltered, Amalek overpowered them. We may read all this and wonder, what in the world was wrong with our ancestors? How could they experience miracle after miracle, salvation after salvation, and continue to live in fear of the next day? How could they continue to believe that God would abandon them all at any moment? Why could they never trust Moshe enough to ask him a question without pouncing on him as the cause of their imminent death? We may read this and think that if we were there, we would have acted with perfect faith. We would have treated Moshe with respect, marched forward without fear, and enjoyed the unfolding of God’s plan. Hopefully that is true; hopefully we would have been among the good ones. But we should not be too sure about ourselves. Consider the many miracles we have experienced in modern times. Hashem brought us back to Israel and helped us resettle the land. He saved us over and over again from mighty enemies who joined forces to destroy us, and defeated them with incredible miracles. He has caused Israel to grow and prosper despite all odds, and despite continued problems from enemies within and without. We should be moving forward with faith and confidence. Instead, we remain stuck in place, perpetually afraid of what the world will say and think. We are afraid of losing their aid, their support, their good will. We make “painful sacrifices” because we are afraid of losing everything if we defy the will of our foreign lords. What a horrible way to live. This is not acting with faith, but with fear – the complete opposite of faith. Then we rationalize and say this is what God wants us to do. This is “hishtadlus”. We have to take extraordinary actions as if God doesn’t exist, even to the point of harming ourselves, and only then expect God to do the rest. A mighty army is afraid to vanquish inferior enemies. Brave soldiers are convinced that weakness, deceitfully called “restraint”, is strength. Instead, these same soldiers are turned against their own people, upon whom that pent-up restraint is given an outlet. Fear is deceitfully called courage, and faith is called folly. We are afraid to leave galus completely. If we all returned to Israel God might not provide for us, or He might allow a single missile to eradicate the Jewish people. We have to hedge our bets, remain spread out all over the world, and follow the easiest money. This is “hishtadlus”. Only if we engage in national and spiritual self-sabotage would our miserly God provide for us. What an un-Jewish way to live, using the Torah as a fig leaf to cover spiritual nakedness. This is not acting with faith, but with fear wrongly labeled as faith. Now we live in fear of leaving our homes, uncovering our faces, being near a fellow Jew, kissing a Torah, and so much else. We allow ourselves to be frightened by professional liars in the government and the media who have never demonstrated honesty, integrity, self-sacrifice, and concern for our lives. We allow them to terrorize us with unscientific claims, and we embrace restrictions on essential, God-given freedoms that only harm us. We allow them to wear us down physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually – all under the guise of protecting our health and saving our lives. We do not force them to answer difficult questions. We allow them to get away with softball interviews by shills in the media who have abandoned any pretense of investigative journalism. We continue to accept their lies and the media spin, for fear of being called names. We allow them to continue destroying lives in so many ways while pretending to save them, without making them suffer consequences. We continue to hope that if we believe the lies just a little longer it will all just go away. We are afraid of accepting the ugly truth, rising up together, taking out the trash, and taking back our lives. Instead, we allow them to turn us against one another, blaming our friends, relatives, and neighbors for being the cause of our suffering. We feel courageous fighting them to cover for our cowardice in fighting those who truly cause our suffering. We hope that by fighting our own, our lords and masters will be pleased and lighten up on us a little. It never works. Just the opposite happens. Our disunity and infighting weakens us and makes them stronger. We allow them to defeat us until we are willing to do anything for a little relief. We will believe whatever unscientific lies they tell us, and won’t even challenge these lies. We will line up like sheep to be injected with anything – we don’t care what it is or what it might do to us – just so they might lighten up on us. We don’t care when they admit that we are guinea pigs, we make excuses for them when we hear horrific stories, and we believe there is no other way. We allow them to manipulate and pressure rabbinic figures – some of whom are eager to comply – so that we can pretend we are dutifully following the Torah when just the opposite is true. We turn injections of experimental drugs into a religious rite, complete with Shabbos attire and blessings to God for allowing us to serve these other gods. We believe God will not protect us any way, because we are acting with fear, and not with faith. We believe we must make “painful sacrifices”, such as closing our shuls and schools, not hosting guests, covering our faces, breathing in our own exhaled bacteria and toxins, distancing ourselves from our fellow Jews, abandoning the elderly and the lonely, abandoning singles, wrecking our economy, persecuting those who don’t worship the golden calf, and we must do all this potentially forever – all because we believe God wouldn’t have it any other way. Instead of God leading us, we got Amalek. The entire Torah has been placed on indefinite moratorium until professional liars who hate the Torah decide it is safe for us to keep the Torah again. They’ve gotten some rabbis on board, so we shouldn’t think about it. After the incredible salvations our ancestors experienced, we would expect them to fully believe in Hashem – not in foreign gods, not in professional liars, not in themselves or anyone else to play god. They failed repeatedly, and we shake our heads at them. We wouldn’t have been fooled by the false gods and the false prophets, even the false gods who supposedly brought salvation and the false prophets who were religious and spoke inspiring words. We would have stayed true to the Torah and Hashem. We would have known better. Then we wear one mask, two masks, three masks, live in fear and terror, line up to be injected, allow our lives and our sanity to be eroded, give up everything for as long as it takes. God demands this of us! We hate those who are less afraid. They are the problem. Their faith is ignorance. They are the ones killing us and forcing us to live this way. People who live with fear cannot make rational decisions. That is the point of frightening them. The moment one becomes afraid, he is distancing himself from God and sabotaging his ability to go with God. The opposite of fear is faith. People with faith let God guide their lives and let God protect them from dangers. Their faith allows them to think with clarity and take proper, measured precautions that are truly helpful, proven, and do not cause more harm than good. God informs us in this very parsha that He is our doctor, He is our healer. If we truly keep the Torah, we have nothing to fear. And if we fear, it is a sign that we do not have faith. Our ancestors had some fine moments, but they mostly got it wrong. They lived in perpetual fear of God abandoning them, which led them to take extraordinary, harmful measures to play god. Their measures produced that which they feared, driving God from them and bringing curses and suffering upon them. For the last year we have followed this wrongful path. Let us stop living with fear, let us stop destroying ourselves. Let us live with faith, let us go with God, and let us be truly free. See www.chananyaweissman.com for much more. |
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COVID: ‘Green Pass’ Holders Allowed Entry Into Few Businesses That Remain“We recommend visiting the site when fewer users are likely to be on, such as in four or five months.”
 Green-Pass Israel Jerusalem, March 4 (http://www.preoccupiedterritory.com/covid-green-pass-holders-allowed-entry-into-few-businesses-that-remain/) – The Ministry of Health launched a new initiative in the last several weeks, under which people carrying certification that they have undergone the full immunization regimen against SARS-CoV-2 may enjoy unrestricted admittance to the few operating restaurants, stores, and service boutiques that have not gone belly-up during the prolonged lockdowns of the last year. Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein held a press conference Thursday morning to provide updates on the government’s handling of the pandemic. He touted the world-leading Israeli vaccination numbers and urged the public to continue seeking the injections so that life can return to pre-COVID normal as soon as possible, and as normal as possible when so many local and small businesses have collapsed while no one was permitted to operate or patronize them. “The numbers so far have provided significant encouragement,” Edelstein declared. “Obviously the continued downward trend of positive cases and percentage depends in part on our citizens maintaining the strong collective immunization effort. Soon, within months or perhaps even within weeks if the data support it, we can allow a full reopening of the Israeli economy, or at least the few parts of the Israeli economy that have survived.” Under the Green Pass program, Edelstein explained, Israelis may reduce their adherence to certain restrictions if they display a Ministry-issued document attesting to the fact that they have received both immunization injections and that a week has passed since the second one. “The Green Pass is available as a downloadable QR code graphic for those who enter their information into the ministry website,” he noted. “Yes, it can take days to get it to work properly, because so many users are trying to access the form at the same time, so we recommend visiting the site when fewer users are likely to be on, such as in four or five months.” Israelis hungry for a return to normal life voiced hope that they could do so before even the businesses that have survived are gone as well. “I need a new pair of shoes,” complained Jerusalem resident Aniha Mor. “I’ve needed a new pair of shoes for months now, but the one place I know that carries anything comfortable for me hasn’t been answering the phone. I don’t know what I’ll do if it closes down for good. I hope it doesn’t get replaced by yet another hair studio, coffee shop, or 24-hour convenience store. But it’s along the stretch of Jaffa Road just west of King George, where I think by law everything has to be a shoe store, so there’s a chance I’ll find something.” |
COVID-19 TESTING: The Lies they Tell
Why Hardly Anyone Trusts The Virus ‘Experts’by Tyler Durden Tuesday, Jan 19, 2021 – 10:05 https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/why-hardly-anyone-trusts-virus-experts Authored by John Rubino via DollarCollapse.com, Early in the pandemic, “trust the science!” could actually be used in a debate without attracting derisive laughter. But as the flip-flops, mistakes and, yes, lies have accumulated, a consensus seems to be forming that the health care authorities are no more trustworthy than the people running Congress or the Fed. For proof, let’s start with vitamin D, which sure seems to lessen the severity of coronavirus infections. As the chart below illustrates (couldn’t find the source, but google “covid vitamin D” and you’ll find lots of studies that track with this data), people with higher levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream tend to experience covid-19 as a non-event while people low levels found the infection life-threatening.
 Vitamin D and covid 2021
There are obvious questions about causality here, so calling vitamin D a “cure” is going way too far. But if it has even a marginal effect – and the data suggest considerably more — a rational government would, you’d think, be handing out vitamin D like Halloween candy. In fact, since we’re mandating/prohibiting all kinds of other behaviors, we might expect vitamin D consumption to be required along with masks and social distancing. Even covid-czar Anthony Fauci recently said:
So why aren’t family-sized bottles of vitamin D arriving in the mail from the CDC? A cynic might wonder if the fact that Big Pharma doesn’t make much money from cheap, widely available supplements plays a role in the government’s apparent lack of interest. Now about those lockdowns. Tom Woods has been producing charts that appear to show virtually no difference in virus outcomes between US states with aggressive lockdown policies and those without. California, for instance, has shuttered most of its small businesses and imposed widespread curfews, while Florida hasn’t. Here’s the result:
 California vs Florida covid lockdowns
As for the rest of the world – where they’re supposedly doing better than the US – the pattern of zero correlation between lockdowns and virus spread seems to be holding. France imposed a full national lockdown in March – after which the virus spiked. Then they added mask mandates (indoor and outdoor), with fines attached. And daily new cases soared.
 France covid 2021
Then of course there’s the lying. Dr. Fauci first claimed that masks don’t help – when he believed they did help — because he feared mask shortages for health care workers. He also admits to changing the official line on herd immunity according to what he thinks we’re ready to hear. And, in what sounds more like incompetence than dishonesty, he’s apparently been answering the question “when will life go back to normal?” with whatever pops into his head at the time. In early 2020, it was the coming Autumn. In July, it was “a year or so.” More recently it’s “well into 2021.” But the biggest and by far the most outrageous reason for this growing mistrust has to be the World Health Organization which, well, read for yourself:
The health care establishment could have saved a lot of time — and embarrassment — by just asking regular people about this stuff. But then they would have made a lot less money. |
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Casedemic: The Hideous Scandal Of The Irredeemably Flawed PCR Testby Tyler Durden 06December2021 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/casedemic-hideous-scandal-irredeemably-flawed-pcr-test Authored by Ian McNulty via The Brownstone Institute, Investigating the cause of a disease is like investigating the cause of a crime. Just as the detection of a suspect’s DNA at a crime scene doesn’t prove they committed the crime, so the detection of the DNA of a virus in a patient doesn’t prove it caused the disease. Consider the case of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) for example. It can cause serious diseases like arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer. A Japanese study in 2003 found that 43% of patients suffering from Chronic Active Epstein-Barr Virus (CAEBV) died within 5 months to 12 years of infection. Yet EBV is one of the most common viruses in humans and has been detected in 95% of the adult population. Most of those infected are either asymptomatic or show symptoms of glandular fever, which can have similar symptoms to ‘long Covid.’ If an advertising agency attempted to create demand for an EBV treatment with daily TV and radio ads representing positive EBV tests as ‘EBV Cases’ and deaths within 28 days as ‘EBV Deaths,’ they’d be prosecuted for fraud by false representation so quickly their feet wouldn’t touch the ground.
 No-Yes blocks
How Viruses Are DetectedBefore the invention of PCR, the gold standard for detecting viruses was to grow them in a culture of living cells and count damaged cells using a microscope. The disadvantage of cell cultures is they need highly skilled technicians and can take weeks to complete. The advantage is they only count living viruses that multiply and damage cells. Dead virus fragments that do neither are automatically discounted. The invention of PCR in 1983 was a game changer. Instead of waiting for viruses to grow naturally, PCR rapidly multiplies tiny amounts of viral DNA exponentially in a series of heating and cooling cycles that can be automated and completed in less than an hour. PCR revolutionised molecular biology but its most notable application was in genetic fingerprinting, where its ability to magnify even the smallest traces of DNA became a major weapon in the fight against crime. But, like a powerful magnifying glass or zoom lens, if it’s powerful enough to find a needle in a haystack it’s powerful enough to make mountains out of molehills. Even the inventor of PCR, Kary Mullis, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993, vehemently opposed using PCR to diagnose diseases: “PCR is a process that’s used to make a whole lot of something out of something. It allows you to take a very miniscule amount of anything and make it measurable and then talk about it like it’s important.“ PCR has certainly allowed public health authorities and the media around the world to talk about a new variant of Coronavirus like it’s important, but how important is it really? The Dose Makes The PoisonAnything can be deadly in high enough doses, even oxygen and water. Since the time of Paracelsus in the 16th century, science has known there are no such things as poisons, only poisonous concentrations:
This basic principle is expressed in the adage “dosis sola facit venenum“ – the dose alone makes the poison – and is the basis for all Public Health Standards which specify Maximum Permissible Doses (MPDs) for all known health hazards, from chemicals and radiation to bacteria, viruses and even noise. Public Health Standards, Science and LawToxicology and Law are both highly specialised subjects with their own highly specialised language. Depending on the jurisdiction, Maximum Permissible Doses (MPDs) are also known as Health Based Exposure Limits (HBELs), Maximum Exposure Levels (MELs) and Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs). But, no matter how complicated and confusing the language, the basic principles are simple. If the dose alone makes the poison then it’s the dose that’s the biggest concern, not the poison. And if Public Health Standards in a liberal democracy are regulated by the rule of law then the law needs to be simple enough for a jury of reasonably intelligent lay people to understand. Although the harm caused by any toxin increases with the dose, the level of harm depends not only on the toxin, but the susceptibility of the individual and the way the toxin is delivered. Maximum Permissible Doses have to strike a balance between the benefit of increasing safety and the cost of doing it. There are many Political, Economic and Social factors to consider besides the Technology (PEST). Take the case of noise for example. The smallest whisper may be irritating and harmful to some people, while the loudest music may be nourishing and healthy for others. If the Maximum Permissible Dose was set at a level to protect the most sensitive from any risk of harm, life would be impossible for everyone else. Maximum Permissible Doses have to balance the costs and benefits of restricting exposure to the level of No Observable Effect (NOEL) at one end of the scale, and the level that would kill 50% of the population at the other (LD50). Bacteria and viruses are different from other toxins, but the principle is the same. Because they multiply and increase their dose with time, maximum permissible doses need to be based on the minimum dose likely to start an infection known as the Minimum Infective Dose (MID). Take the case of listeria monocytogenes for example. It’s the bacteria that causes listeriosis, a serious disease that can result in meningitis, sepsis and encephalitis. The case fatality rate is around 20%, making it ten times more deadly than Covid-19. Yet listeria is widespread in the environment and can be detected in raw meat and vegetables as well as many ready-to-eat foods, including cooked meat and seafood, dairy products, pre-prepared sandwiches and salads. The minimum dose in food likely to cause an outbreak of listeriosis is around 1,000 live bacteria per gram. Allowing a suitable margin of safety, EU and US food standards set the maximum permissible dose of listeria in ready-to-eat products at 10% of the minimum infective dose , or 100 live bacteria per gram. If Maximum Permissible Doses were based solely on the detection of a bacteria or virus rather than the dose, the food industry would cease to exist. Protection of the VulnerableThe general rule of thumb for setting maximum permissible doses used to be 10% of the MID for bacteria and viruses, and 10% of the LD50 for other toxins, but this has come under increasing criticism in recent years: first with radiation, then Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), then smoke in general, then viruses. The idea that there is no safe dose of some toxins began to surface in the 1950s, when radioactive fallout from atom bomb tests and radiation from medical X-rays were linked with the the dramatic post-war rise in cancers and birth defects. Although this was rejected by the science at the time, it wasn’t entirely unfounded. There are many reasons why radiation may be different from other pollutants. Chemicals like carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen are recycled naturally by the environment, but there is no such thing as a Radiation Cycle. Radioactivity only disappears gradually with time, no matter how many times it’s recycled. Some radioactive substances remain dangerous for periods longer than human history. All life forms are powered by chemical processes, none by nuclear energy. The last natural nuclear reactor on earth burned out more than 1.5 billion years ago. The nearest one now is isolated from life on earth by 93 million miles of vacuum. As evidence mounted to show there was no safe dose of radiation, maximum permissible doses were lowered drastically, but limited doses were still allowed. If public health standards were based purely on the detection of radiation rather than the dose, the Nuclear Industry would cease to exist. The susceptibility of any individual to any health risk depends on many factors. Most people can eat sesame seeds and survive bee stings without calling an ambulance, for others they can be fatal. In the US bees and wasps kill an average of more than 60 people each year, and food allergies cause an average of 30,000 hospitalisations and 150 deaths. If public health standards were based solely on the detection of a toxin rather than the dose, all bees would be exterminated and all food production closed down. Food allergies set the legal precedent. Where minuscule traces of something might be harmful for some people, the law demands that products carry a clear warning to allow the vulnerable to protect their own health. It doesn’t demand everyone else pay the price, no matter what the cost, by lowering maximum permissible doses to the point of no observable effect. Minimum Infectious Doses (MIDs) have already been established for many of the major respiratory and enteric viruses including strains of coronavirus. Even though SARS-CoV-2 is a new variant of coronavirus, the MID has already been estimated at around 100 particles. Whilst further work is needed, nevertheless it could serve as a working standard to measure Covid-19 infections against. Are PCR Numbers Scientific?As the philosopher of science, Karl Popper, observed: “non-reproducible single occurrences are of no significance to science.” To be reproducible, the results of one test should compare within a small margin of error with the results of other tests. To make this possible all measuring instruments are calibrated against international standards. If they aren’t, their measurements may appear to be significant, but they have no significance in science. PCR tests magnify the number of target DNA particles in a swab exponentially until they become visible. Like a powerful zoom lens, the greater the magnification needed to see something, the smaller it actually is. The magnification in PCR is measured by the number of cycles needed to make the DNA visible. Known as the Cycle Threshold (Ct) or Quantification Cycle (Cq) number, the higher the number of cycles the lower the amount of DNA in the sample. To convert Cq numbers into doses they have to be calibrated against the Cq numbers of standard doses. If they aren’t they can easily be blown out of proportion and appear more significant than they actually are. Take an advertisement for a car for example. With the right light, the right angle and the right magnification, a scale model can look like the real thing. We can only gauge the true size of things if we have something to measure them against. Just like a coin standing next to a toy car proves it’s not a real one, and a shoe next to a molehill shows it’s not a mountain, the Cq of a standard dose next to the Cq of a sample shows how big the dose really is. So it’s alarming to discover that there are no international standards for PCR tests and even more alarming to discover that results can vary up to a million fold, not just from country to country, but from test to test. Even though this is well-documented in the scientific literature it appears that the media, public health authorities and government regulators either haven’t noticed or don’t care:
Even the CDC itself admits PCR test results aren’t reproducible:
For this reason PCR tests are licenced under emergency regulations for the detection of the type or ‘quality’ of a virus, not for the dose or ‘quantity’ of it.
Just because we can detect the ‘genetic fingerprint’ of a virus doesn’t prove it’s the cause of a disease:
So, while there’s little doubt that using PCR to identify the genetic fingerprint of a Covid-19 virus is the gold standard in molecular science, there’s equally no doubt that using it as the gold standard to quantify Covid-19 ‘cases’ and ‘deaths’ is “ill-advised.” The idea that PCR may have been used to make a mountain out of a molehill by blowing a relatively ordinary disease outbreak out of all proportion is so shocking it’s literally unthinkable. But it wouldn’t be the first time it has happened. The Epidemic That Wasn’tIn spring 2006 staff at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire began showing symptoms of respiratory infection with high fever and nonstop coughing that left them gasping for breath and lasted for weeks. Using the latest PCR techniques, Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s laboratories found 142 cases of pertussis or whooping cough, which causes pneumonia in vulnerable adults and can be deadly for infants. Medical procedures were cancelled, hospital beds were taken out of commission. Nearly 1,000 health care workers were furloughed, 1,445 were treated with antibiotics and 4,524 were vaccinated against whooping cough. Eight months later, when the state health department had completed the standard culture tests, not one single case of whooping cough could be confirmed. It seems Dartmouth-Hitchcock had suffered an outbreak of ordinary respiratory diseases no more serious than the common cold! The following January the New York Times ran the story under the headline “Faith in Quick Test Leads to Epidemic That Wasn’t.” “Pseudo-epidemics happen all the time,” said Dr. Trish Perl, past president of the Society of Epidemiologists of America. “It’s a problem; we know it’s a problem. My guess is that what happened at Dartmouth is going to become more common.” “PCR tests are quick and extremely sensitive, but their very sensitivity makes false positives likely” reported the New York Times, “and when hundreds or thousands of people are tested, as occurred at Dartmouth, false positives can make it seem like there is an epidemic.” “To say the episode was disruptive was an understatement,” said Dr. Elizabeth Talbot, deputy epidemiologist for the New Hampshire Department of Health, “I had a feeling at the time that this gave us a shadow of a hint of what it might be like during a pandemic flu epidemic.” Dr. Cathy A. Petti, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Utah, said the story had one clear lesson. “The big message is that every lab is vulnerable to having false positives. No single test result is absolute and that is even more important with a test result based on PCR.” The Swine Flu Panic of 2009In the spring of 2009 a 5-year old boy living near an intensive pig farm in Mexico went down with an unknown disease that caused a high fever, sore throat and whole body ache. Several weeks later a lab in Canada tested a nasal swab from the boy and discovered a variant of the flu virus similar to the H1N1 Avian flu virus which they labelled H1N1/09, soon to be known as ‘Swine Flu.’ On 28 April 2009 a biotech company in Colorado announced they had developed the MChip, a version of the FluChip, which enabled PCR tests to distinguish the Swine Flu H1N1/09 virus from other flu types. “Since the FluChip assay can be conducted within a single day,” said InDevR’s leading developer and CEO, Prof Kathy Rowlen, “it could be employed in State Public Health Laboratories to greatly enhance influenza surveillance and our ability to track the virus.” Up until this point the top of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Pandemic Preparedness homepage had carried the statement:
Less than a week after the MChip announcement, the WHO removed the phrase “enormous numbers of deaths and illness,” to require only that “a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity” before a flu outbreak to be called a ‘pandemic.’ No sooner had the laboratories started PCR testing with MChip than they were finding H1N1/09 everywhere. By the beginning of June almost three-quarters of all influenza cases tested positive for Swine Flu. Mainstream news reported the rise in cases on a daily basis, comparing it with the H1N1 Avian Flu pandemic in 1918 which killed more than 50 million people. What they neglected to mention is that, although they have similar names, Avian Flu H1N1 is very different and much more deadly than Swine Flu H1N1/09 . Even though there had been less than 500 deaths up to this point compared to more than 20,000 deaths in a severe flu epidemic people flocked to health centres demanding to be tested, producing even more positive ‘cases,’ In mid-May senior representatives of all the major pharmaceutical companies met with WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan, and UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, to discuss delivery of swine flu vaccines. Many contracts had already been signed. Germany had a contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to buy 50 million doses at a cost of half a billion Euros which came into effect automatically the moment a pandemic was declared. The UK bought 132 million doses – two for every person in the country. On 11 June 2009 WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, announced:
On 16 July the Guardian reported that swine flu was spreading fast across much of the UK with 55,000 new cases the previous week in England alone. The UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, warned that in the worst case scenario 30% of the population could be infected and 65,000 killed. On 20 July a study in The Lancet co-authored by WHO and UK government adviser, Neil Ferguson, recommended closing schools and churches to slow the epidemic, limit stress on the NHS and “give more time for vaccine production.” On the same day WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan announced that “vaccine makers could produce 4.9 billion pandemic flu shots per year in the best-case scenario.” Four days later an official Obama administration spokesman warned that “as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren’t successful.” The warnings had the desired effect. That week UK consultation rates for influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) were at their highest since the last severe flu epidemic in 1999/2000, even though death rates were at a 15-year low. On 29 September 2009 the Pandemrix vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was rushed through European Medicines Agency approval, swiftly followed by Baxter’s Celvapan the following week. On 19 November the WHO announced that 65 million doses of vaccine had been administered worldwide. As the year drew to a close it became increasingly obvious that swine flu was not all it was made out to be. The previous winter (2008/2009) the Office for National Statistics (ONS) had reported 36,700 excess deaths in England and Wales, the highest since the last severe flu outbreak of 1999/2000. Even though the winter of 2009 had been the coldest for 30 years, excess deaths were 30% lower than the previous winter. Whatever swine flu was, it wasn’t as deadly as other flu variants. On 26 January the following year, Wolfgang Wodarg, a German doctor and member of parliament, told the European Council in Strasbourg that the major global pharmaceutical corporations had organised a “campaign of panic” to sell vaccines, putting pressure on the WHO to declare what he called a “false pandemic” in “one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century.” “Millions of people worldwide were vaccinated for no good reason,” said Wodarg, boosting pharmaceutical company profits by more than $18 billion. Annual sales of Tamiflu alone had jumped 435 percent, to €2.2 billion. By April 2010, it was apparent that most of the vaccines were not needed. The US government had bought 229 million doses of which only 91 million doses were used. Of the surplus, some of it was stored in bulk, some of it was sent to developing countries and 71 million doses were destroyed. On 12 March 2010 SPIEGEL International published what it called “Reconstruction of a Mass Hysteria” that ended with a question:
But it didn’t take long to find an answer. In December the Independent published a story with the headline “Swine flu, the killer virus that actually saved lives.”
Instead of the low death rate proving that swine flu had been a fake pandemic, confidence in the organisations that had “gambled away precious confidence” was quickly restored by portraying swine flu as something that “actually saved lives” by driving out the common flu. PCR and LawPortraying something as something it isn’t is deception. Doing it for profit is fraud. Doing it by first gaining the trust of the victims is a confidence trick or a con. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland fraud is covered by the Fraud Act 2006 and is divided into three classes – ‘fraud by false representation,’ ‘fraud by failing to disclose information’ and ‘fraud by abuse of position.’ A representation is false if the person making it knows it may be untrue or misleading. If they do it for amusement, it’s a trick or a hoax. If they do it to make a gain, or expose others to a risk of loss, it’s ‘fraud by false representation.’ If someone has a duty to disclose information and they don’t do it, it might be negligence or simple incompetence. If they do it to make a gain, or expose others to a risk of loss, it’s ‘fraud by failing to disclose information.’ If they occupy a position where they are expected not to act against the interests of others, and do it to make a gain or expose others to a risk of loss, it’s ‘fraud by abuse of position.’ In Dartmouth Hitchcock’s case there’s no doubt that using PCR to identify a common respiratory infection as whooping cough was ‘false representation,’ but it was an honest mistake, made with the best of intentions. If any gain was intended it was to protect others from risk of loss, not to expose them to it. There was no failure to disclose information and nobody abused their position. In the case of swine flu things aren’t so clear. By 2009 there were already plenty of warnings from Dartmouth Hitchcock and many other similar incidents that using PCR to detect the genetic fingerprint of a bacteria or virus may be misleading. Worse still, the potential of PCR to magnify things out of all proportion creates opportunities for all those who would gain by making mountains out of molehills and global pandemics out of relatively ordinary seasonal epidemics. The average journalist, lawyer, member of parliament or member of the public may be forgiven for not knowing about the dangers of PCR, but public health experts had no excuse. It may be argued that their job is to protect the public by erring on the side of caution. It may equally be argued that the massive amounts of money spent by global pharmaceutical corporations on marketing, public relations and lobbying creates enormous conflicts of interest, increasing the potential for suppression of information and abuse of position across all professions, from politics and journalism to education and public health. The defence is full disclosure of all information, particularly on the potential of PCR to identify the wrong culprit in an infection and blow it out of all proportion. The fact this was never done is suspicious. If there were any prosecutions for fraud they weren’t widely publicised, and if there were any questions raised or lessons to be learned about the role of PCR in creating the 2009 Swine Flu panic they were quickly forgotten. The First Rough Draft of HistoryThe first rough attempt to represent things in the outside world is journalism. But no representation can be 100% true. ‘Representation’ is literally a re-presentation of something that symbolises or ‘stands in for’ something else. Nothing can fully capture every aspect of a thing except the thing itself. So judging whether a representation is true or false depends on your point of view. It’s a matter of opinion, open to debate in other words. In a free and functioning democracy the first line of defence against false representation is a free and independent press. Where one news organisation may represent something as one thing, a competing organisation may represent it as something completely different. Competing representations are tried in the court of public opinion and evolve by a process of survival of the fittest. Whilst this may be true in theory, in practice it isn’t. Advertising proves people choose the most attractive representations, not the truest. News organisations are funded by financiers who put their own interests first, not the public’s. Whether the intention is to deliberately defraud the public or simply to sell newspapers by creating controversy, the potential for false representations is enormous. Trial By MediaDespite the CDC’s own admission that PCR tests “may not indicate the presence of infectious virus,” its use to do exactly that in the case of Covid was accepted without question. Worse still, the measures taken against calling PCR into question have become progressively more draconian and underhanded since the very beginning. The mould was set with the announcement of the first UK death on Saturday 29 February 2020. Every newspaper in Britain carried the same front page story: “EMERGENCY laws to tackle coronavirus are being rushed in after the outbreak claimed its first British life yesterday,” screamed The Daily Mail.
 EMERGENCY laws to tackle coronavirus are being rushed in after the outbreak claimed its first British life yesterday
The first British victim contracted the virus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, not Britain, but it didn’t matter. With less than 20 cases in the UK and one ‘British’ death in Japan, the media had already decided it justified rushing in emergency laws. How did they know how dangerous it was? How were they able to predict the future? Had they forgotten the lessons of the 2009 Swine Flu panic? After almost 2 weeks of newspaper, TV and radio fearmongering, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made it official at the Downing Street press conference on Thursday 12 March 2020 when he said:
None of that statement stood up to scrutiny, but none of the hand-picked journalists in the room had the right knowledge to ask the right questions. After 20 minutes blinding the press and public with science, Johnson opened the floor to questions. The first question, from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, set the mould by accepting the Prime Minister’s statement without question:
Any journalist who remembered the 2009 Swine Flu panic, might have asked how the PM knew, after just 10 deaths, that it was the worst public health crisis in a generation? He didn’t say it may be or could be but definitely ‘is.’ Did he have a crystal ball? Or was he following the same Imperial College modelling that had predicted 136,000 deaths from mad cow disease in 2002, 200 million deaths from bird flu in 2005 and 65,000 deaths from swine flu in 2009, all of which had proved completely wrong? As the BBC’s chief political correspondent Kuenssberg wouldn’t be expected to know any more about science, medicine, or PCR than any other member of the general public. So why did the BBC send their chief political correspondent to a press conference on public health and not their chief science or health correspondent? And why did the PM choose her to ask the first question? But the BBC wasn’t alone. Six other correspondents from leading news outlets asked questions that day; all were chief political correspondents, none were science or health correspondents. So none of the journalists allowed to ask questions had the necessary knowledge to subject the PM and his Chief Scientific and Medical Officers to any degree of real scrutiny With the rise in the number of coronavirus ‘cases’ and ‘deaths’ reported on a daily basis and the Prime Minister’s solemn warning that “many more families, are going to lose loved ones before their time” filling the headlines the following morning, questioning what the numbers actually meant became more and more impossible. If the press and the public had forgotten the 2009 Swine flu panic, and those who helped calm it down had dropped their guard, those whose intention was to make a gain had learned their lesson.
 The Corona Crisis of 2020
Subject the Corona Crisis of 2020 to close scrutiny and it begins to look more like a carefully orchestrated advertising campaign for vaccine manufacturers than a genuine pandemic. But that scrutiny has been made impossible for all kinds of reasons. ‘Follow the money’ was once the epitome of investigative journalism, popularised in the movie of the Watergate scandal, ‘All The President’s Men’ which followed the money all the way to the top. Now following the money is called ‘Conspiracy Theory’ and is a sackable offence in journalism, if not yet in other professions. The idea that there may be real conspiracies to make false representations with the intention of making a gain or exposing others to a risk of loss has now been driven so far beyond the pale it’s literally unthinkable. If PCR has been tried by media in the court of public opinion, the case for the prosecution was demonised and dismissed at the outset and prohibited by emergency legislation soon after. The Last Best HopeThe last line of defence against false representation in both science and the media is the law. It’s no coincidence that Science and Law use similar methods and similar language. The foundations of the Scientific Method were laid by the Head of the Judiciary, the Lord Chancellor of England Sir Francis Bacon, in the Novum Organum, published exactly 400 years ago last year. Both are based on ‘laws,’ both rely on hard physical evidence or ‘facts,’ both explain the facts in terms of ‘theories,’ both test conflicting facts and theories in ‘trials’ and both reach verdicts through juries of peers. In science the peers are selected by the editorial boards of scientific publications. In law they’re selected by judges. In both law and science trials revolve around ‘empirical’ evidence or ‘facts’ – hard physical evidence that can be verified through the act of experiencing with our five senses of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. But facts by themselves are not enough. They only ‘make sense’ when they are selected and organised into some kind of theory, narrative or story through which they can be interpreted and explained. But there’s more than one way to skin a cat, more than one way to interpret the facts and more than one side to every story. To reach a verdict on which one is true, theories have to be weighed against each other rationally to judge the ratios of how closely each interpretation fits the facts. Trial By LawThe ability of PCR to detect the genetic fingerprint of a virus is proven beyond reasonable doubt, but its ability to give a true representation of either the cause, severity or prevalence of a disease hasn’t. To say the jury is still out would be an understatement. The jury has yet to be convened and the case yet to be heard. Testing coronavirus particles in a swab is no different to testing apples in a bag. A bag of billiard balls rinsed in apple juice would test positive for apple DNA. Finding apple DNA in a bag doesn’t prove it contains real apples. If the dose makes the poison then it’s the quantity we need to test for, not just its genetic fingerprint. Grocers test the amount of apples in bags by weighing them on scales calibrated against standard weights. If the scales are properly calibrated the bag should weigh the same on any other set of scales. If it doesn’t, local trading standards officers test the grocer’s scales against standard weights and measures. If the scales fail the test the grocer can be prohibited from trading. If it turns out the grocer deliberately left the scales uncalibrated to make a gain they can be prosecuted for ‘false representation’ under section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006. Testing the quantity of viral DNA in a swab, not the quantity of live viruses, is like counting billiard balls rinsed in apple juice as real apples. Worse still, in the absence of standards to calibrate PCR tests against results, tests can show a “million-fold difference in viral load in the same sample.” If a grocer’s scales showed a million-fold difference in the load of apples in the same bag they’d be closed down in an instant. If it can be shown that the grocer knew the weight displayed on the scales may have been untrue or misleading, and they did it to make a gain or expose customers to a loss, it would be an open-and-shut case, done and dusted in minutes. If the law applies to the measurement of the quantity of apples in bags, why not to the measurement of coronavirus in clinical swabs? By the CDC’s own admission, in its instructions for use of PCR tests:
From that statement alone it’s clear that PCR tests may give a false representation that is untrue or misleading. If those using PCR tests to represent the number of Covid cases and deaths know it may be misleading and do it to ‘make a gain,’ either monetary or just to advance their own careers, it’s ‘fraud by false representation.’ If they have a duty to disclose information and they don’t do it it’s ‘fraud by failing to disclose information.’ And if they occupy positions where they’re expected not to act against the interests of the public but do it anyway it’s ‘fraud by abuse of position.’ If the law won’t prosecute those in authority for fraud, how else can they be discouraged from doing it? As Dr. Trish Perl said after the Dartmouth Hitchcock incident, “Pseudo-epidemics happen all the time. It’s a problem; we know it’s a problem. My guess is that what happened at Dartmouth is going to become more common.”The potential of PCR to cause problems will only get worse until its validity to diagnose the cause and measure the prevalence of a disease is tested in law. The last word on PCR belongs to its inventor, Kary Mullis: “The measurement for this is not exact at all. It’s not as good as our measurement for things like apples.” |
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Why Is The CDC Quietly Abandoning The PCR Test For COVID?BY TYLER DURDEN 25July2021 https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/why-cdc-quietly-abandoning-pcr-test-covid We have detailed (most recently here and here) the controversy surrounding America’s COVID “casedemic” and the misleading results of the PCR test and its amplification procedure in great detail over the past few months.
As a reminder, “cycle thresholds” (Ct) are the level at which widely used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test can detect a sample of the COVID-19 virus. The higher the number of cycles, the lower the amount of viral load in the sample; the lower the cycles, the more prevalent the virus was in the original sample.  How does PCR testing for COVID-19 work?
Numerous epidemiological experts have argued that cycle thresholds are an important metric by which patients, the public, and policymakers can make more informed decisions about how infectious and/or sick an individual with a positive COVID-19 test might be. However, as JustTheNews reports, health departments across the country are failing to collect that data. Here are a few headlines from those experts and scientific studies:
So, in summary, with regard to our current “casedemic”, positive tests as they are counted today do not indicate a “case” of anything. They indicate that viral RNA was found in a nasal swab. It may be enough to make you sick, but according to the New York Times and their experts, probably won’t. And certainly not sufficient replication of the virus to make anyone else sick. But you will be sent home for ten days anyway, even if you never have a sniffle. And this is the number the media breathlessly reports… and is used to fearmonger mask mandates and lockdowns nationwide…
In October we first exposed how PCR Tests have misled officials worldwide into insanely authoritative reactions. As PJMedia’s Stacey Lennox wrote, the “casedemic” is the elevated number of cases we see nationwide because of a flaw in the PCR test. The number of times the sample is amplified, also called the cycle threshold (Ct), is too high.
A month later, Dr. Pascal Sacré, explained in great detail how all current propaganda on the COVID-19 pandemic is based on an assumption that is considered obvious, true and no longer questioned: Positive RT-PCR test means being sick with COVID. This assumption is misleading. Very few people, including doctors, understand how a PCR test works.
 Dr. Anthony Fauci In mid-November, none other than he who should not be questioned – Dr. Anthony Fauci – admitted that the PCR Test’s high Ct is misleading:
So, if anyone raises this discussion as a “conspiracy”, refer them to Dr.Fauci. In response to this and the actual “science”, Florida’s Department of Health (and signed off on by Florida’s Republican Governor Ron deSantis), decided that for the first time in the history of the pandemic, a state will require that all labs in the state report the critical “cycle threshold” level of every COVID-19 test they perform. Then, in January, as Biden takes office, The FDA publicly admits it…
First Fauci, then WHO, and then FDA all admit there is malarkey in the PCR Tests, but have – until now, done nothing about it… allowing the daily fearmongering of soaring “cases” to enable their most twisted 1984-esque controls. All of which brings us to today’s announcement from The FDA, that it will be abandoning the PCR Test for COVID at the end of the year.
The question one is forced to ask is simple – as with everything else that happens in the Healthcare-Industrial-Complex – cui bono? Is another provider of testing about to be enrichened? Or is it even more sinister than standard crony capitalism? Given the traditional winter spike in ‘flu’ cases and the PCR-Test-driven “casedemic” we experienced into the election and through the start of the Biden administration, one could be forgiven for suggesting that the last thing an already weakened Democratic Party, desperate to cling to control in DC, would be a dramatic re-emergence of the “deadly” virus (driven by the numerous false positives of the PCR Test as described in detail above) ahead of the Midterms? |
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WHO (Finally) Admits PCR Tests Create False Positivesby Tyler Durden Sunday, December 20, 2020 – 8:12 https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/who-finally-admits-pcr-tests-create-false-positives Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org, Warnings concerning high CT value of tests are months too late…so why are they appearing now? The potential explanation is shockingly cynical…
The World Health Organization released a guidance memo on December 14th, warning that high cycle thresholds on PCR tests will result in false positives. While this information is accurate, it has also been available for months, so we must ask: why are they reporting it now? Is it to make it appear the vaccine works? The “gold standard” Sars-Cov-2 tests are based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR works by taking nucleotides – tiny fragments of DNA or RNA – and replicating them until they become something large enough to identify. The replication is done in cycles, with each cycle doubling the amount of genetic material. The number of cycles it takes to produce something identifiable is known as the “cycle threshold” or “CT value”. The higher the CT value, the less likely you are to be detecting anything significant. This new WHO memo states that using a high CT value to test for the presence of Sars-Cov-2 will result in false-positive results. To quote their own words [our emphasis]:
They go on to explain [again, our emphasis]:
Of course, none of this is news to anyone who has been paying attention. That PCR tests were easily manipulated and potentially highly inaccurate has been one of the oft-repeated battle cries of those of us opposing the “pandemic” narrative, and the policies it’s being used to sell. Many articles have been written about it, by many experts in the field, medical journalists and other researchers. It’s been commonly available knowledge, for months now, that any test using a CT value over 35 is potentially meaningless. Dr Kary Mullis, who won the Nobel Prize for inventing the PCR process, was clear that it wasn’t meant as a diagnostic tool, saying:
And, commenting on cycle thresholds, once said:
The MIQE guidelines for PCR use state:
This has all been public knowledge since the beginning of the lockdown. The Australian government’s own website admitted the tests were flawed, and a court in Portugal ruled they were not fit for purpose. Even Dr Anthony Fauci has publicly admitted that a cycle threshold over 35 is going to be detecting “dead nucleotides”, not a living virus. Despite all this, it is known that many labs around the world have been using PCR tests with CT values over 35, even into the low 40s. So why has the WHO finally decided to say this is wrong? What reason could they have for finally choosing to recognise this simple reality? The answer to that is potentially shockingly cynical: We have a vaccine now. We don’t need false positives anymore. Notionally, the system has produced its miracle cure. So, after everyone has been vaccinated, all the PCR tests being done will be done “under the new WHO guidelines”, and running only 25-30 cycles instead of 35+. Lo and behold, the number of “positive cases” will plummet, and we’ll have confirmation that our miracle vaccine works. After months of flooding the data pool with false positives, miscounting deaths “by accident”, adding “Covid19 related death” to every other death certificate…they can stop. The create-a-pandemic machine can be turned down to zero again. …as long as we all do as we’re told. Any signs of dissent – masses of people refusing the vaccine, for example – and the CT value can start to climb again, and they bring back their magical disease. |
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FDA Recalls Millions Of At-Home COVID-19 Tests Over False Positivesby Tyler Durden 13November2021 – https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/fda-recalls-millions-home-covid-19-tests-over-false-positives Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed Thursday it is recalling some 2 million Ellume at-home COVID-19 testing because they can produce “false positives” due to a manufacturing defect.
The firm first informed the federal regulatory agency about the defect in some lots in October. But on Wednesday, the FDA said it identified additional lots that were affected by the manufacturing defect, made between Feb. 24, 2021, and Aug. 11, 2021. To date, about 35 false positives from the COVID-19 tests were reported to the FDA. No deaths have been reported related to the test, according to the agency. A “false positive” indicates that an individual has contracted the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, when they actually do not. The FDA noted that false positives could lead to “delayed diagnosis or treatment for the actual cause of the person’s illness, which could be another life-threatening disease that is not COVID-19” or receiving “unnecessary COVID-19 treatment from a health care provider,” which may “result in side effects.” Another problem, the FDA noted, is isolation, including monitoring household or close contacts for symptoms, limiting contact with family or friends, and missing school or work.” Underscoring the severity of the issue, the FDA said it “identified this as a Class I recall, the most serious type of recall … use of these tests may cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” The antigen test detects proteins from the CCP virus from a nasal sample, and it’s available without a prescription for use by people aged 2 years and older. It also comes with an analyzer that connects with a smartphone app to show users to perform the test and understand the test results. Ellume has recalled 2,212,335 tests in the United States to date. Earlier this year, the Australia-based firm announced it had about 200,000 of its tests. The Biden administration had signed a $231 million deal with Ellume, which received approval to produce its tests under the Trump administration last year. In October, Dr. Sean Parsons, Ellume’s chief executive, announced that the firm had created more safeguards to stop the problem from occurring again.
And a spokesperson said that the “root cause” of the issue was identified. The company is already shipping new products inside the United States, the spokesperson added to the NY Times. The Epoch Times has contacted Ellume for comment. |
Big Pharma’s ‘Narrative’ Is Failingby Tyler Durden 09August2020 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/big-pharmas-narrative-failing Authored by Bretigne Shaffer via LewRockwell.com, So now we don’t have to listen to what those doctors said in front of the US Supreme Court, because it turns out that one of them has some whacky beliefs about sex with demons causing reproductive disorders. What a relief. I’m not going to pretend that the things Dr. Stella Immanuel has said don’t sound just a little crazy to me. They do. But I’ve been observing this game long enough to have a pretty good idea of how this works:
I understand that for some people, maybe even for a great many, that is the end of the conversation. So for everyone who is satisfied with the “fringe doctors promoting hydroxychloroquine also believe demon sex causes fybroids” narrative–please, stop here. Your ride is over, and you may go on believing that this group of doctors and other professionals has been thoroughly discredited by these statements. For everyone else, if you are at all interested in why such a coordinated effort has been launched to silence and discredit this group, why – even before the sex demon stuff was uncovered – videos of the group’s press conference were quickly yanked from YouTube, and why their own website was taken down without warning by its host, SquareSpace, (their new website can now be found here) then please keep reading. WHAT THE AMERICA’S FRONTLINE DOCTORS GROUP SAID:What follows is a brief summary of the key points made by the group America’s Frontline Doctors at their press conference last week. I will not comment on the validity of their claims, however founder Dr. Simone Gold has provided support for much of what the group said, in a white paper that can be found here. 1. They believe that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for Covid-19.This is the claim made by several of the speakers, including Dr. Immanuel, based on their own clinical experience, as well as on multiple published studies. Many of those studies are listed here, and here. 2. State licensing boards are using their power to forcibly prevent people from having access to this drug.According to Dr. Gold, many states have empowered their pharmacists to not honor prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine to be used in treating Covid-19. This, she says, is unprecedented:
Meanwhile, says Gold, the drug is available over the counter in many other countries, including Iran and Indonesia, where it can be found “in the vitamin section”. 3. There is a coordinated campaign to discredit and suppress information about the drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for Covid-19:
Dr. Todaro is speaking from experience. He was the co-author of a March 13 white paper arguing for the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19. The paper was made public on Google Docs, received a lot of attention, and was then removed–without warning–by Google. (It has since been put back up.) 4. The World Health Organization halted its trials of hydroxychloroquine based on a blatantly fraudulent study that relied on data that it appears never even existed.Bear in mind that this is the authority upon which YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has said she bases her company’s policy on “misinformation”. The WHO later resumed trials after independent investigators discovered the problems and the study’s authors retracted it. 5. We should be able to have a free and open discussion about this.Dr. Dr. Joseph Lapado from UCLA, sums it up:
WHY THE ALL-OUT MEDIA ASSAULT ON THE FRONTLINE DOCTORS?:The influence that the pharmaceutical industry wields over media outlets is no secret. As of 2018, an estimated 70% of all news advertising in the US came from pharmaceutical companies. I have written elsewhere about how “reporting” on medical issues can be difficult to distinguish from outright marketing for drug companies. Social-media platforms are not immune to this influence, whether it comes via advertising dollars; “partnerships” such as that between the CDC Foundation and MailChimp (which like many other platforms, has an explicit policy of censoring content about vaccines that does not align with the positions of the CDC and the WHO); direct investment, such as that of Google’s parent company Alphabet; or indeed at the behest of politicians such as Congressman Adam Schiff, who last year wrote to the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook and Google, requesting that those companies censor information and products that did not conform to the officially sanctioned position on vaccines. All three complied. So it should come as small surprise that both Google and YouTube have now taken to removing content supportive of hydroxychloroquine, a drug that is no longer covered by patent, and can be made and sold by any generic producer, for a fraction of the price that Gilead, for example, might charge for its still-patented Remdesivir. Twitter and Facebook have likewise removed posts about the drug, most notably–and with no visible sense of irony–removing posts of the video in which the Frontline Doctors speak out about widespread media censorship of the topic. (You can now see those videos on Bitchute.) One need not have an opinion on the merits of the drug hydroxychloroquine in order to recognize that something very odd is happening here. Something that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with free and open inquiry or honest scientific discourse. Many argue that the politicization of this drug is founded in a desire to unseat President Trump, that the opposition to it is primarily because it was endorsed by Trump, and if it is deemed to be a failure (or even better, dangerous to patients) it will be a powerful strike against the president. That may well be part of what has motivated this. But there is another motivation, having to do with the desire to push a more expensive medication onto the market, and to push a new vaccine on the world’s population. More broadly, it has to do with the narrative that those in the business of selling drugs demand we believe: that we are all in desperate need of their products (but only the ones still under patent) if we are to be healthy–or indeed, if we are to survive at all. If it turns out that this “new” virus is easily treatable, with hydroxychloroquine or anything else, then the industry’s dreams go up in smoke. If hydroxychloroquine turns out to be a safe and effective way of treating Covid-19 (as multiple studies and the experience in many other countries outside of the US indicate it may be) then there is much less reason for anyone to receive a vaccine for it, let alone the entire world’s population. Likewise, there is no pressing need to develop a new, more expensive treatment. But even more than that: If it turns out that hydroxychloroquine is after all a safe and effective treatment for Covid-19, then this whole episode – the silencing of dissenting voices, the “fact-checking” on social media, the campaigns against “misinformation” – will be revealed in plain sight, for what it has always been: Nothing more than a well-funded marketing campaign and damage-control effort on behalf of the industry that wants you to believe that you need to use its expensive products in order to go on living. So when a group of doctors took to the steps of the US Supreme Court and told the world how they were having success using a cheap anti-malarial that had been in use for 65 years to treat the most deadly contagion of our generation, it was a massive blow to the narrative upon which the pharmaceutical purveyors’ success depends. And over the next few days, as viewers engaged in a race with the censors, quickly downloading videos before they were removed, to post them on other platforms… it became clear that the censors and the gatekeepers had lost control of the conversation. This is not only about hydroxychloroquine. Every time media outlets or social-media platforms engage in outright censorship of content, in a way that happens to benefit pharmaceutical companies, both parties lose just a little more credibility. The actions we are witnessing now are not the actions of an industry confident in the value of what it provides to the world. They are the actions of a desperate, threatened creature. They are the actions of an entity that is not strengthened by the truth, but weakened by it. That is what these (increasingly obvious) acts of censorship tell us. What we are witnessing are the pangs of a lumbering, wounded, behemoth. |
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The “Smoking Gun” study of why studies of Hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 have failed. Hydroxychloroquine, evidence of efficacy |
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Take Vitamin D and Zinc to prevent DeathQuite Compelling EvidenceDr. John Campbell 13May2020
Planning a randomized clinical trial, moderate to high doses In the meantime, |
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The mortality rate for covid-19 is falling rapidly, and here’s how we can continue to improve it29September2020 by: Lance D Johnson https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-09-29-mortality-rate-for-covid-19-is-falling-rapidly.html (Natural News) In March 2020, the mortality rate for covid-19 was advertised as a scary 3.4 percent by the World Health Organization and experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci. As more data was collected over time, the mortality rate fell. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) break down the mortality rate by age group. If an individual does become infected, the CDC has prepared a “current best estimate” of the mortality rate based on data collected from March through September and taking into consideration the R naught factor. The mortality rate for covid-19 should only concern those ages 70 and upBased on an R naught factor of 2.5, children between the ages of 1 and 19, if infected, are only at a .00003 risk of dying. The risk to schoolchildren is so low; schools should have never closed or implemented such strict behavioral controls. For young and middle-aged adults, ages 20 – 49, the risk of dying is still slight, approximately .0002. Almost every working age adult should be living their life as normal as possible, no longer controlled by arbitrary mandates. As with most infections, the risk of death appears slightly greater for those ages 50 to 69: The risk of death for those infected in this age group is .005. The only concerning mortality statistic is for people ages 70 and up. The mortality rate for infected individuals in this group is 1 in 20. Sadly, policies put forth by Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York forced positive covid-19 patients back into the nursing homes, putting the most vulnerable population at risk and driving up the mortality rate. How do we continue to lower the mortality rate?Improvements can be made to the mortality rate if every American started focusing on strengthening their immune system, instead of fearing their environment. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and zinc should be made readily available to any patient with symptoms of a respiratory infection. Despite its effectiveness around the world, this treatment protocol has been suppressed and lied about, driving up the mortality rate. Zinc and SeleniumMedical researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands found that the mineral zinc blocks viral replication for not only coronaviruses but all other RNA viruses, including poliovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, picornaviruses, and influenza viruses. Zinc works by correcting the proteolytic processing of viral poly-proteins. Zinc’s antiviral properties convey an up-regulation of interferon production, allowing the innate immune system to more rapidly respond to the virus to eliminate the infection from the body. Furthermore, zinc possesses anti-inflammatory activity and allows T-cell immune function to work efficiently, limiting cytokine storms that are observed in severe cases of covid-19. Other trace minerals are important for healthy immune function, including selenium. Vitamin DA study from Spain found that covid-19 patients respond well to vitamin D supplementation, even after infection. In the study, patients who tested positive for covid-19 were hospitalized 50 percent of the time when vitamin D was withheld. Two of the ICU patients did not survive. Another covid-19 positive group was given vitamin D. This group only saw one ICU admission (out of the 50 people studied) and that person did survive. Vitamin C and QuercetinA study titled, “Quercetin and Vitamin C: An Experimental Synergistic Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 Related Disease (COVID-19)” found that quercetin interferes “at multiple steps of pathogen virulence,” including at “virus entry, virus replication, (and) protein assembly” to stop viral infection and proliferation. When quercetin is used in synergy with Vitamin C, the two become a prophylactic (preventative medicine) for the treatment of covid-19 and other respiratory tract infections. Licorice rootGlycyrrhiza glabra (licorice root) is one of many over-the-counter antiviral herbs that can be used to stop infections in the body. In vitro studies conducted on licorice root reveal antiviral activity against HIV?1, SARS related coronavirus, respiratory syncytial virus, arboviruses, vaccinia virus and vesicular stomatitis virus. Sweet wormwoodArtemisinin A is an active derivative of sweet wormwood herb (Artemisia annua /A. annua). This plant-based medicine inhibits SARS-CoV and other viruses in clinical studies. The plant’s concentration of aurantiamide acetate impedes cathepsin-L (CTSL), a protein that is critical for SARS-CoV-2 to gain entry into cells. Similar drugs are being developed to target CTSL to treat covid-19, and sweet wormwood herb provides the same medicinal mechanisms. To learn more on living with viruses and overcoming infections naturally, visit ImmuneSystem.News. Sources include: |
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What you can do to battle the epidemic of the Wuhan novel coronavirus (COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV)UNIVERSAL PRAYER TO BE SAVED FROM CORONAVIRUSBy YD Bergman 06February2020 https://ravberland.com/breaking-prayer-to-be-saved-from-coronavirus/ The World Is Hanging By A ThreadThis morning (Thursday) after finishing his morning learning schedule and immersing in the mikvah, Rebbi Eliezer Berland shlit”a said in a stern voice:
The Rav went on to explain that all of humanity including animals and plants are in danger of complete destruction. And began quickly stating gematrias as to the spiritual cause of this terrible illness. Among others ben adam l’chaveiro the commandment which includes all interpersonal laws has the same numerical value as corona in Hebrew 363. Open hearing this and seeing the look of concern on the Rabbi’s face, his attendant asked, “What should we do?” Rav Berland answered: “We will write a prayer and the decree will be cancelled. The prayer should be translated in all languages and read all over the world. With that the virus it will leave as quickly as it came leaving no trace behind.”===================================================================================== Here is the prayer: PRAYER TO BE SAVED FROM CORONAVIRUSMaster of Universe, who can do anything! Cure me and the whole world of the Coronavirus, because redemption is near.And through this reveal to us the 50th gate of holiness, the secret of the ibbur, and may we begin from this day onward to be strong in keeping interpersonal commandments (i.e. being kind to others). And by virtue of this may we witness miracles and wonders the likes of which haven’t been since the creation of the world. And may there be sweetening of judgments for the entire world, to all mankind, men women and children. Please God! Please cure Coronavirus all over the world, as it says about Miriam the prophetess, “Lord, please, cure her, please.” Please God! Who can do anything! Send a complete healing to the entire world! To all men, women, children, boys and girls, to all humanity wherever they may be, and to all the animals, birds, and creatures. All should be cured from this disease in the blink of an eye, and no trace of the disease should remain. And all will merit fear of Heaven and fear of God, O Merciful and Compassionate Father. Please God, please do with us miracles and wonders as you did with our forefathers by the exodus from Egypt. And now, take us and the entire world out from this disease, release us and save us from the Coronavirus that wants to eliminate all mortals. We now regret all the sins that we did, and we honestly ask for forgiveness. And in the merit of our repentance, this cursed disease, that does not miss men, women, boys, girls, and animals, will be eliminated. Please God, as quick as the illness came it will go away and disappear immediately, in the blink of an eye, and by this the soul of Messiah Ben David will be revealed. Please God, grant us the merit to be included in the level of the saints and pure ones, and bless anew all the fruit and vegetation, that all will be healed in the blink of an eye, and we will see Messiah Ben David face to face. Please God, who acts with greatness beyond comprehension, and does wonders without number. Please now perform also with us miracles and wonders beyond comprehension and let no trace of this cursed disease remain. And may the entire world be cured in the blink of an eye. Because Hashem did all this in order for us to repent, it is all in order for us to direct our hearts to our Father in Heaven, and by that He will send blessings and success to all of our handiwork.  coronavirus prayer
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MESSAGE FROM THE GADOL HADOR: Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s Instructions on How to Protect Yourself and Loved OnesMarch 13, 2020 https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/featured/1839688/message-from-the-gadol-hador-rav-chaim-kanievskys-instructions-on-how-to-protect-yourself-and-loved-ones.html
 THE GADOL HADOR: Rav Chaim Kanievsky
The following letter was written by Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita regarding protection from the Corona Pandemic. It was translated and annotated by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the 5TJT.com. Rav Kanievsky’s words are in boldface. Rabbi Yair Hoffman’s additions are in italics and in plain type. Rabbi Hoffman’s additions are the background that is necessary to understand Rav Chaim’s words. May we all have yeshuos. YH BS”D Adar 5780 Regarding the concern of transmission of the Corona Virus Pandemic Everyone must be mechazek to refrain from Lashon Harah and rechilus as it states in Arachin 15b: [Why is a leper so different, that the Torah states: “He shall dwell alone; outside of the camp shall be his dwelling” (Vayikrah 13:46)? He (Rabbi Chaninah) answered: By speaking badly] he separated between a husband and wife and between one person and another; therefore he is punished with tzara’as, and the Torah says: “He shall dwell alone; outside of the camp shall be his dwelling.” They must further strengthen themselves in the midah of humility and to be maavir al midosav (let things slide) as the pirush haRosh on the side of the page says explicitly in the end of Horios [14a], The Gemorah there cites a debate between Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and the chachomim as to who is preferable – a Sinai, one who is extremely knowledgeable or an Okair Harim – One who uproots mountains, one who is extremely sharp. The Gemara explains that this is not just theoretical. Rav Yosef was a Sinai; Rabba was one who uproots mountains. They sent a message from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael: Which takes precedence? They sent in response: Sinai is preferable, as the Master said: Everyone requires the owner of the wheat, i.e., one who is expert in the sources. And even so, Rav Yosef did not accept upon himself the appointment of head of the yeshiva. Rabba did accept it upon himself and he reigned for twenty-two years, and then Rav Yosef reigned. The Gemara relates that in all of those years that Rabba was in charge, Rav Yosef did not even call a bloodletter to his home. Rav Yosef did not assume even the slightest authority, in deference to Rabba. The Rosh explains in the name of the Ramah that since Rav Yosef lowered himself and did not wish to lord over Rabbah, his humility protected both him and his household members that not any of them became ill all of those years that Rabbah ruled and even an expert bloodletter was not needed to be called to his home. Whoever strengthens himself in these the merit will protect him and his family members that not one of them will be sick. [Rav] Chaim Kanievsky  Rav Chaim Kanievsky
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 Comment: what they will not say is: “Hashem watches over Israel”“A land that God seeks out, the eyes of God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:12) Israel health chief: If we’d not been tough, we could have wound up like BelgiumIf early trends had continued, today there’d be 600,000 sick Israelis and thousands ‘would have ended their lives,’ says Bar Siman-Tov, defending policies amid economic meltdownBy TOI staff 24 April 2020 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-health-chief-if-wed-not-been-tough-we-could-have-wound-up-like-belgium/  Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Health minister Yaakov Litzman and Health Ministry General Manager Moshe Bar Siman Tov at a press conference about the coronavirus COVID-19, at the Prime Ministers office in Jerusalem on March 11, 2020. Photo by Flash90 Israel’s Health Ministry director-general on Friday defended the country’s tough lockdown measures in the battle against COVID-19, saying if it hadn’t acted responsibly it could have found itself in a similar situation to Belgium. Moshe Bar Siman-Tov was asked in a TV interview whether his own prediction in recent weeks, and that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that tens of thousands of Israelis could die from COVID-19, was exaggerated, when the current Israeli tally is below 200 fatalities and the restrictions are gradually being rolled back. “We have a very simple check,” he said. “We were at a rate where the number of new patients was doubling every three days… There was a single day when the number of seriously ill patients rose by 50%. “If that trend had continued, today we’d have over 600,000 people [sick], over 10,000 on ventilators, and many thousands who would have ended their lives.” Pushed directly on whether that kind of concern has proven exaggerated, especially with Israel’s economy tanking and unemployment having soared from below 4% to over 26%, he replied: “I don’t think so… There are enough control groups — look at Belgium.” Belgium has a population slightly larger than Israel’s and a death toll approaching 7,000.  Mourners set down the coffin of a Guinean man, who died of COVID-19 and who the family did not wish to identify by name, during a funeral at the cemetery of Evere, Belgium, Friday, April 24, 2020. Shops and restaurants in Belgium remain closed and weddings and funerals are limited in number during a partial lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Bar Simon-Tov was asked again by the anchor: “If ordinary life had continued, we would have reached those numbers of dead?” “I’m not a prophet,” he said, “but there are enough examples showing that countries that did not act responsibly have had many, many more dead, many, many more on ventilators and the collapse of their health systems… We’ve been following a policy that prevents that.” He said a discussion on when to open schools would be held next week. “We’re preparing further eased restrictions,” he said, adding, “we’re well aware of the economic damage… But the prime imperative has been to protect the health of the public… Look at what happened in other countries.” Asked whether the warmer climate has impacted the spread of infection, he said there was “no indication to that effect” yet. Asked about the logic of allowing branches of IKEA to reopen this week, on one hand, and sending swarms of cops to arrest an isolated surfer, on the other, he said he knew there have been some such issues, and broadly “we need to ease up” on sports restrictions. Asked what he will do when the latest raft of eased restrictions take effect on Sunday, he said he hopes he’ll have time to get a haircut. |
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Do You Realize How Messianic This Is?16 Adar 5780 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2020/03/do-you-realize-how-messianic-this-is.html
We used to wonder how HASHEM would make this happen (make the foreigners leave and bring the Jews home), but we never doubted that HE would, and it would only be happening NOW and in this WAY because MASHIACH is already here and working on HIS behalf. We knew the day would come when flights would once again be grounded and the doors would close, but we always imagined it would be because of a major war. Maybe THIS VIRUS is actually the “merciful” path. And it would not be happening just now unless the old world was already finished and a new one was finally beginning. Nisan – the month of beginnings “Zion heard and rejoiced, and the daughters of Judah exulted, because of Your judgments, O Lord.” (Tehillim 97.8) PLEASE HASHEM! Let all your children live and survive to see and experience its completion!!
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How to DEFEAT a coronavirus infection |
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How to DEFEAT a coronavirus infection |
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Benefits of Garlic for Fighting Cancer and the Common Cold |
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Best Food to Counter Stress-Induced Immune Suppression |
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Benefits of Green Tea for Boosting Antiviral Immune Function |
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POWERFUL STEPS TO COMBAT THE CORONAVIRUS – Dr Alan Mandell, DCmotivationaldoc |
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Hand washing, so importantDr. John Campbell 03March2020
From email 18February2020 From the desk of Dr. Nandita Shah…With coronavirus topping the news these days, I have many patients asking me what they can do to make sure they don’t succumb. Coronavirus, like any other virus whether influenza or SARS, can affect anyone who has come in contact with it. Confirmed cases are even being reported in India. It might help to know that the virus is not too deadly, it also resides in healthy carriers. This means that anyone with a high immune system may not succumb to this virus even if they are unfortunate enough to contract it. Building our immunity will not just help us withstand this novel virus, it will also help us build resilience towards other known and unknown viruses. With a growing and a particularly dense population, India is perennially at risk of a viral epidemic. It’s up to each one of us to take charge of our health right now. We can do this by eating and living the way we as humans are designed to eat and live by nature, i.e. eat as close to an organic whole food plant-based diet as possible, keep a check on vitamin B12 and D, consume plenty of water, have enough exercise and rest at the right time. This is what SHARAN recommends to anyone who takes their health seriously. The incidence of coronavirus is therefore a good wake-up call and we must remember its lessons if we are to safeguard ourselves from the fatal health implications of epidemics. |
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How To Avoid Getting Infected By The Coronavirusby Tyler Durden 07March2020 -https://www.zerohedge.com/health/how-avoid-getting-infected-coronavirus As worldwide coronavirus cases blow past 100,000 sickened, the question on everyone’s mind is: “How do I avoid getting infected?” Peak Prosperity’s Chris Martenson goes through the best steps for self-protection in this video (jump to the 35m:10s mark for his summary): How To Avoid Getting Infected By The CoronavirusCrazy infectious with a serious complication rate near 15% and a case fatality rate of over 3%, many of us are likely to catch this virus, and most of us will probably know at least one person who dies from it. And with that many sick people, the health care systems around the world are going to be overwhelmed. Even if you don’t have the virus, you still may not be able to get critical care for other health emergencies (sickness, injury, baby delivery, etc) Chris shares some of the dozens of stories we’re receiving from health practitioners all over the world who feel shocked and betrayed by how poorly their hospitals are prepared for what’s coming.
 How to Avoid being infected
So take steps now to increase your odds of being one of those who avoids covid-19 altogether. Reading the coronavirus preparation megathreads available for free on PeakProsperity.com is a great way to get started:
If you’re one of the many new readers here on Peak Prosperity, be sure you’re up-to-date on developments with the coronavirus. All of our latest covid-19 video updates, podcasts and articles can be accessed here for free. And here’s a brief list of the more recent material that Chris and I have published for our premium subscribers, to give you a sense of what’s behind the paywall (free executive summary, enrollment required for full access) |
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Vitamin D and immunityDr. John Campbell • 09March2020 |
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18th March, Immune functionDr. John Campbell • 18March2020 |
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Friday 20th March Lets get seriousDr. John Campbell • 20March2020 |
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Tzfat Chief Rabbi Leads Prayer at the Kotel for China’s Coronavirus VictimsDavid Israel  Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu at the Kotel plaza, July 18, 2016. Photo Credit: Mendy Hechtman/FLASH90 Thousands of Jews came to the Western Wall from across the country to pray for the good health of people in China at the behest of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of the city of Tzfat and member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, in response to his call on Thursday night for faithful Jews to assemble at the Western Wall on Sunday, to “pray for the people of China who are in great distress.” תפילה להסרת המגיפה מסין ומכל העולם-Prayer for removing the plague from China and all over the world תפילת המונים – קורונה
Prayer on Sunday at the kotel on the residents of China. לשכת הרב שמואל אליהו תפילה ביום א’ בכותל על תושבי סין “טוֹב ה’ לַכֹּל וְרַחֲמָיו עַל כָּל מַעֲשָׂיו”. אנו נקראים להתפלל על תושבי סין שנמצאים במצוקה גדולה. עשרות אלפי אנשים נמצאים בבידוד. מיליונים בהסגר. חמישית מתושבי העולם בחרדה גדולה. על כל אחד ואחד מהם נאמר: “חביב אדם שנברא בצלם”. “Good God to all his actions for all his actions”. we are called to pray for the residents of China who are in great distress. Tens of thousands of people are in solitary. Millions in quarantine. Fifth of the residents of the world with great anxiety. For each and every one of them is said: “Habib Man created in gaffes”. “Tens of thousands of people are in isolation, millions under quarantine,” the rabbi’s press release said. “One fifth of the world’s inhabitants experience great anxiety. About each and every one of them it was said: ‘Beloved is man for he was created in the image [of God]’ (Mishna Avot, 3:14).” “We are called upon to pray for the people of China,” Rabbi Eliyahu’s message continued. “We are called upon to pray for all the sick in the other countries as well. Pray for the world.” “On Sunday, February 16, at 4:30 PM, at the Western Wall, we will all pray,” the rabbi urged. “And may God hear our prayer and make true through us the verse ‘In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed,’ (Genesis 28:14).” Earlier on Thursday, Rabbi Eliahu posted an exceptionally moving message, saying, “There is a tradition held by the people of Israel, that one blessing draws another. And when there was an epidemic in the nation of Israel, King David taught us to thank and bless every favor we receive from God, and so the plague stopped (II Samuel 24). That gift which we received from King David, we want to pass on to the Chinese people.” “King David taught us to bless with a song,” Rabbi Eliahu continued, and called on all creative people, “composers, musicians and singers to compose a gift song from Israel to the Chinese people. A song of partnership, of prayer, of blessing.” Amen.
 Torah Tidbits #1361 p.26-Atzeret Tefilla At the Kotel For Coronavirus
מיליוני סינים מודים לישראלהללו – הקרן לקידום ישראל בעולם Millions of Chinese thank Israel for Prayers for China’s Coronavirus Victims |
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Sweetening Judgments23February2020 http://shiratdevorah.blogspot.com/2020/02/sweetening-judgments.html from the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov When the messengers who bring suffering are despatched, they are made to take an oath: that they will neither set out nor return except on such and such a day, at such and such a time, and only [carry out their mission] by using the designated means. However, repentance, prayer and charity have the power to nullify [the enactment of] this oath. Reciting the Torah chapters concerning the Choshen, the Breastplate [Exodus 28:15-30; 39:8-21] is a tikkun [rectification] for harsh judgments. A person who suffers affliction should give charity. This charity will be considered as if it were a fee paid to a judge for his services, which when accepted, nullifies the verdict’s validity. And through this his suffering will be alleviated. When a person rebukes his friend for the right motives, he has a thread of loving-kindness drawn over him. A person who does not accept rebuke will experience suffering. To sweeten harsh judgments, recite Psalm 39 and Psalm 77. When the nations have issued an evil decree against the Jews, Psalm 62 should be said. A person can determine and understand his sins from the suffering which he experiences. There are four things which abolish harsh decrees: Tzedakah [charity], crying out to G-d, changing one’s name and improving one’s conduct. Crying out to G-d helps the individual only prior to the final decree. A person’s accusers are beaten off by the study of Torah. A final decree accompanied by an oath cannot be abolished, even for the sake of an entire community. The effects of a decree against a person apply only in a specific place. He can save himself by changing his location. A person should tell others of his anguish so that they will pray for mercy on his behalf. Accepting suffering with love is like bringing a sacrifice. A person who falls down while walking should see this as a sign of a downfall on a spiritual level. Falling down while walking sometimes serves to nullify a pronouncement of death which has been issued against the person. A person who finds himself suffering from harsh judgment should make it a habit to gaze at the Heavens. The Holy One exonerates the person who teaches righteousness to the wicked. A man of truth receives G-d’s lovingkindness undisguised by judgments. Trust in G-d sweetens judgment and draws down loving-kindness. Through faith [emunah] it is possible to convince G-d to follow your will. |
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BREAKING: American Doctors Address COVID-19 Misinformation. Hydroxychloroquine Works!!PatriotDude 27July2020 |
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Big Pharma’s ‘Narrative’ Is Failingby Tyler Durden 09August2020 – https://www.zerohedge.com/political/big-pharmas-narrative-failing Authored by Bretigne Shaffer via LewRockwell.com, So now we don’t have to listen to what those doctors said in front of the US Supreme Court, because it turns out that one of them has some whacky beliefs about sex with demons causing reproductive disorders. What a relief. I’m not going to pretend that the things Dr. Stella Immanuel has said don’t sound just a little crazy to me. They do.
But I’ve been observing this game long enough to have a pretty good idea of how this works:
I understand that for some people, maybe even for a great many, that is the end of the conversation. So for everyone who is satisfied with the “fringe doctors promoting hydroxychloroquine also believe demon sex causes fybroids” narrative–please, stop here. Your ride is over, and you may go on believing that this group of doctors and other professionals has been thoroughly discredited by these statements. For everyone else, if you are at all interested in why such a coordinated effort has been launched to silence and discredit this group, why – even before the sex demon stuff was uncovered – videos of the group’s press conference were quickly yanked from YouTube, and why their own website was taken down without warning by its host, SquareSpace, (their new website can now be found here) then please keep reading. WHAT THE AMERICA’S FRONTLINE DOCTORS GROUP SAID:What follows is a brief summary of the key points made by the group America’s Frontline Doctors at their press conference last week. I will not comment on the validity of their claims, however founder Dr. Simone Gold has provided support for much of what the group said, in a white paper that can be found here. 1. They believe that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for Covid-19.This is the claim made by several of the speakers, including Dr. Immanuel, based on their own clinical experience, as well as on multiple published studies. Many of those studies are listed here, and here. 2. State licensing boards are using their power to forcibly prevent people from having access to this drug.According to Dr. Gold, many states have empowered their pharmacists to not honor prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine to be used in treating Covid-19. This, she says, is unprecedented:
Meanwhile, says Gold, the drug is available over the counter in many other countries, including Iran and Indonesia, where it can be found “in the vitamin section”. 3. There is a coordinated campaign to discredit and suppress information about the drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for Covid-19:
Dr. Todaro is speaking from experience. He was the co-author of a March 13 white paper arguing for the use of hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19. The paper was made public on Google Docs, received a lot of attention, and was then removed–without warning–by Google. (It has since been put back up.) 4. The World Health Organization halted its trials of hydroxychloroquine based on a blatantly fraudulent study that relied on data that it appears never even existed.Bear in mind that this is the authority upon which YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has said she bases her company’s policy on “misinformation”. The WHO later resumed trials after independent investigators discovered the problems and the study’s authors retracted it. 5. We should be able to have a free and open discussion about this.Dr. Dr. Joseph Lapado from UCLA, sums it up:
WHY THE ALL-OUT MEDIA ASSAULT ON THE FRONTLINE DOCTORS?:The influence that the pharmaceutical industry wields over media outlets is no secret. As of 2018, an estimated 70% of all news advertising in the US came from pharmaceutical companies. I have written elsewhere about how “reporting” on medical issues can be difficult to distinguish from outright marketing for drug companies. Social-media platforms are not immune to this influence, whether it comes via advertising dollars; “partnerships” such as that between the CDC Foundation and MailChimp (which like many other platforms, has an explicit policy of censoring content about vaccines that does not align with the positions of the CDC and the WHO); direct investment, such as that of Google’s parent company Alphabet; or indeed at the behest of politicians such as Congressman Adam Schiff, who last year wrote to the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook and Google, requesting that those companies censor information and products that did not conform to the officially sanctioned position on vaccines. All three complied. So it should come as small surprise that both Google and YouTube have now taken to removing content supportive of hydroxychloroquine, a drug that is no longer covered by patent, and can be made and sold by any generic producer, for a fraction of the price that Gilead, for example, might charge for its still-patented Remdesivir. Twitter and Facebook have likewise removed posts about the drug, most notably–and with no visible sense of irony–removing posts of the video in which the Frontline Doctors speak out about widespread media censorship of the topic. (You can now see those videos on Bitchute.) One need not have an opinion on the merits of the drug hydroxychloroquine in order to recognize that something very odd is happening here. Something that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with free and open inquiry or honest scientific discourse. Many argue that the politicization of this drug is founded in a desire to unseat President Trump, that the opposition to it is primarily because it was endorsed by Trump, and if it is deemed to be a failure (or even better, dangerous to patients) it will be a powerful strike against the president. That may well be part of what has motivated this. But there is another motivation, having to do with the desire to push a more expensive medication onto the market, and to push a new vaccine on the world’s population. More broadly, it has to do with the narrative that those in the business of selling drugs demand we believe: that we are all in desperate need of their products (but only the ones still under patent) if we are to be healthy–or indeed, if we are to survive at all. If it turns out that this “new” virus is easily treatable, with hydroxychloroquine or anything else, then the industry’s dreams go up in smoke. If hydroxychloroquine turns out to be a safe and effective way of treating Covid-19 (as multiple studies and the experience in many other countries outside of the US indicate it may be) then there is much less reason for anyone to receive a vaccine for it, let alone the entire world’s population. Likewise, there is no pressing need to develop a new, more expensive treatment. But even more than that: If it turns out that hydroxychloroquine is after all a safe and effective treatment for Covid-19, then this whole episode – the silencing of dissenting voices, the “fact-checking” on social media, the campaigns against “misinformation” – will be revealed in plain sight, for what it has always been: Nothing more than a well-funded marketing campaign and damage-control effort on behalf of the industry that wants you to believe that you need to use its expensive products in order to go on living.
So when a group of doctors took to the steps of the US Supreme Court and told the world how they were having success using a cheap anti-malarial that had been in use for 65 years to treat the most deadly contagion of our generation, it was a massive blow to the narrative upon which the pharmaceutical purveyors’ success depends. And over the next few days, as viewers engaged in a race with the censors, quickly downloading videos before they were removed, to post them on other platforms… it became clear that the censors and the gatekeepers had lost control of the conversation. This is not only about hydroxychloroquine. Every time media outlets or social-media platforms engage in outright censorship of content, in a way that happens to benefit pharmaceutical companies, both parties lose just a little more credibility. The actions we are witnessing now are not the actions of an industry confident in the value of what it provides to the world. They are the actions of a desperate, threatened creature. They are the actions of an entity that is not strengthened by the truth, but weakened by it. That is what these (increasingly obvious) acts of censorship tell us. What we are witnessing are the pangs of a lumbering, wounded, behemoth. Something Fishy Going On Between the C-D-C & The W.H.O…If Not Then Why Did This Just Happen!Lisa Haven 22September2020 |
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It’s High Time Someone Spoke UpDevash 25 July 2020 – 5 Av 5780 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2020/07/its-high-time-someone-spoke-up.html Shavua tov! Sharing an important development as posted to Facebook: Breaking news: A prominent rabbinic court in Israel under the leadership of Rabbi Bentzion Wosner and Rabbi N Nussbaum of Beit Shemesh issued a stern rabbinic proclamation. Loose translation: Under the grace of G-d To our fellow Jews in every place We stand presently in days of confusion and crisis, in which wicked governments impose their heavy yoke upon the G-d-fearing with all sorts of strange decrees: closures of houses of study and worship, shutdown of schools and yeshivot, decrees over ritual baths to prevent purity from the Jewish people. At their right hand stands the so-called “religious” parties to support them in these nefarious deeds of destruction. To all these unscrupulous individuals we say: Fear from the Day of Judgement! Do you not know that there is judgment and a Judge, and for all these things G-d will bring you to justice. How could you not have trembled when you agreed to the closure of Talmud Torah, schools where children learn Torah? (Do you not know that) upon the merit of the breath of these holy children the world owes its existence? Furthermore, innumerable testimonies have been presented before the Rabbinic Court attesting that the entire decree concerning masks is for vanity and uselessness, and is not necessary from a medical point of view. It is merely a decree concocted by “the wicked who rage like the turbulent sea and cannot rest, casting up mud and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20). One should regard this decree like sandal straps for which a Jew must risk his life during a time of shmad (religious persecution — see Sanhedrin 74b). And there is no greater “time of shmad” than the present. Woe to us that such a scourge has arisen in our times. The one who heeds our call will dwell safely, and no evil will befall his household. Signed and stamped by the Rabbinical Court. Via Rabbi Michoel Green  A prominent rabbinic court in Israel under the leadership of Rabbi Bentzion Wosner and Rabbi N Nussbaum of Beit Shemesh issued a stern rabbinic proclamation. |
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Israel’s Covid mysteryHCQ was banned for Covid patients by the WHO on the basis of late stage trials. But doctors claim it worked in early stage usage. Opinion.[Comment: Why is Israel listening to totally corrupt organizations of stead of it’s local Doctors and Rabbis? Follow the Money!]Hydroxychloroquine, evidence of efficacyDr. John Campbell 27August2020 Barry Shaw , 23September2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287773 Why? What did we do differently? They said we were partying, getting married, gathering to pray, going to the beach. But we were doing all that before. So why the difference? We were never given the answer. Instead, they decided to appoint a health czar, called him the Projector, gave him the keys to the castle, including budget, ministries, laboratories, hospitals, the health clinics, even the army, to flatten the second curve. The politicians promised to stay in the background. First, The Projector turned the country into traffic light zones. Those with the highest infection rate were zoned red and required to be quarantined. Made sense, until it was discovered that the vast majority of the red zones, fully 80%, were either Arab or Orthodox towns, and that caused resistance – never mind the high morbidity in those sectors. These places, The Projector said, must be placed in immediate lockdown. Then all hell let loose. Politics reared its inevitable head. Knesset meetings became riots. Factions which the Prime Minister depended for his support, and those that opposed him, began banging on his door. He could not win so he did what any politician would do. He threw The Projector’s plan out the window and decreed a national lockdown of three weeks coinciding with the Jewish High Holidays encompassing Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. It began on the Friday afternoon before the traditional New Year’s eve to prevent mass family gatherings. But innovative defiant Israelis moved Rosh Hashanah festivities a day earlier and held their family gatherings on Thursday night instead of Friday. Brilliant. Thousands of Jews rushed to test centers before heading to Ben Gurion Airport and flying from red Israel to green pastures rather than remain in lockdown for weeks. Some booked indefinite one way tickets. Lots of TV chatter. Lots of ink splashed in pages of news media. Silence about the biggest mystery of all. Why are more people becoming seriously ill and dying than before? Why do we now have over 1,300 deaths when, in the peak of the first curve, our mortality rate was just over 300? Why the over 400% difference? It isn’t due to greater testing because people got sick, even without testing, in the first wave. Officials and pundits talk endlessly about testing, social distancing, lockdown, but little else. They are worried about hospitals and laboratories becoming overloaded with seriously infected patients. But no one is talking about how to stop early stage sufferers from deteriorating into hospitalization and worse. Are our local doctors and clinics being allowed to do everything possible to stop early stage patients from becoming hospitalized and dying? The answer is no. They are not. In fact, these first-line physicians, who have intimate professional contact with their patients, are being prevented from what might lead to treating them successfully. Were Israeli doctors prescribing something in the first wave that prevented massive mortality figures they are not prescribing now? The answer is yes. Local doctors and clinics are being prevented from prescribing a drug that worked before, but is banned now. The drug that dare not speak its name is hydroxychloroquine. Medical experts are forbidden on social media to mention its name. Some have been fired from their professional for daring to suggest that this drug, in combination with others, has saved countless lives. Now that ban has been placed on Israeli local physicians, and more people are dying. HCQ is a drug that received global official status use for a number of illnesses and diseases. It has a remarkable sixty-year safety record. But overnight, it became the devil’s potion. Many hundreds of doctors and thousands of patients who swear to its efficacy when used on early stage sufferers in the right dose and in combination with other medications such as zinc and azithromycin, have been pilloried and banned from expressing their data and from sharing their experiences. Professional physicians, in intimate contact with their private patients, are treated like heretics. The authorities say HCQ failed late stage clinical trials. They claim it left a few patients with heart irregularities, a claim refuted by many experts, including Dr. Harvey Risch, Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, who is highly critical about how badly the clinical trials were conducted. After studying the clinical trials, he concluded, among the things, that they applied the drug incorrectly, even in dangerously high dosages, often not in combination with other drugs, to patients who had little chance of surviving with any drug. Professor Risch is an ardent advocate for the application of HCQ in combination with other medications to early stage patients, as is Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, an Orthodox American physician, who came up with the Zelenko Protocol which details, for local doctors and clinics dealing with early stage Covid patients, how to prescribe and monitor patients starting in the first five days of contracting the coronavirus. Professor Risch records and analyses the successes and failures of treating early stage Covid patients and is convinced in his judgment that HCQ, in combination with other drugs, is a safe and efficient method of preventing the debilitating effect of the coronavirus. This early stage treatment was pioneered successfully in France by virologist Didier Raoult, who successfully treated hundreds of Covid patients, before he was pilloried as being a quack by Big Pharma. Hydroxychloroquine was banned for Covid patients by the World Health Organization on the basis of these failed late stage trials. But the WHO recommends paracetamol, a drug that has not undergone clinical trials for Covid patients, and is known to have serious side effects. This is not only hypocritical, but highly suspect. And the WHO itself is suspect – as Donald Trump said in his UN speech. Which begs the question. Why the difference? This troubling discrepancy was brought home to me when I interviewed Dr. Rob Elens, a local physician with a busy clinic in the south of Holland. Dr. Elens had an initial twenty-five patients who came down with Covid. They were prescribed with the Dutch health authorities recommendation, namely paracetamol and isolation. The condition of all twenty-five worsened. All were hospitalized. Twelve of his patients died. Dr. Elens, a compassionate doctor, was gravely concerned that something better could have saved his patients’ lives. So he did what any self-respecting doctor would do. He went in search of the science and came across the Zelenko Protocol, a tried and tested derivative of several doctors’ experiences in helping their early stage patients get over Covid. So, when his next infected patient came along he offered him the choice of the official track or the drug combination of zinc, HCQ and azithromycin. Dr. Elens monitored the patient hourly and was pleased to discover that his patient responded well to the treatment and recovered completely within three days. The doctor repeated the same medication in the required doses with his next nine early stage patients. All recovered quickly. But when he reported his successful cases to the Dutch medical authorities he received a warning to desist. In my video “Covid, and the drug that dare not speak its name,” the now defiant Dr. Elens responded by saying of his patients, “Better illegally alive, than legally dead.” A June comparative study, carried out into Covid-19 patients by the Saudi national fever clinics, concluded that early intervention of a HCQ-based therapy in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients was associated with lower odds of hospitalization, ICU admission and/or death. And why, if it is so important to prevent our hospital system from being overwhelmed, are we not having a public conversation on the prevention of the use of a drug that dare not speak its name, but about which so many physicians and renowned specialists swear to its efficacy? This is a legitimate questions that demands answers at such a critical time. Barry Shaw, Senior Associate, Israel Institute for Strategic Studies. |
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‘Mortality dropped 8-fold with use of those two drugs’Yale Professor Harvey Risch and Dr. Vladimir Zelenko challenge assumptions of health officials with science, facts, and evidence.Mordechai Sones , 12October2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/288940 The Big Lie. Barry Shaw, The View from Israel. SubtitlesIsrael Institute for Strategic Studies’ Barry Shaw’s View from Israel program interviewed Dr. Zev Vladimir Zelenko, discoverer of the “Zelenko Protocol” to treat COVID-19, and Yale School of Medicine Epidemiology Professor Harvey Risch. In this explosive interview, Dr. Zelenko reveals that his Protocol was what cured then Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, but that ever since his successor, Yuli Edelstein took over, the Ministry has been stonewalling him. Professor Risch discusses the “big lie” surrounding hydroxychloroquine efficacy, and evidence that “mortality dropped 8-fold with use of those two drugs.” “You see TV people saying ‘it will kill you’,” says Professor Risch, “and all this nonsense that remains unchallenged in the major media. The media are complicit with the big lie about all of this, and between that big lie and the economic and political interference, it’s very difficult for the truth of this message to come out, and it’s made me feel like I’m living in Germany in 1935, and honestly I can feel, I can see, why your average German, who had so much propaganda delivered at them from every side might have thought that that the Nazi government was the right nationalistic government for Germany, and had no idea about the validity of all of the media messages that they were being bombarded by. It was a big lie then, and we’re suffering from a big lie now.” Dr. Zelenko directed a special message to the people of Israel: “I’d like to tell the Israeli people that people should not be dying from COVID-19. The reason why people are dying is from ineffectual leadership and ineffectual policies. If you could take the politics and the economics out of it, then we can use their $20 treatment plan at home that will significantly reduce mortality and morbidity. “And let me give you the exact numbers: I actually published a study and it will be published in a peer-reviewed journal within the next three weeks, an international journal, and it showed an 84% reduction in hospitalization with a very low P-value, it was statistically significant, that means 84% of the people being admitted, at least to my data, in the hospitals – we could reduce that amount of hospitalization by at least fivefold.” The complete transcript of the interview follows: “My name’s Barry Shaw, The View From Israel, welcome to the show. Today’s show is particularly apt and important. My two special guests are Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, the author of the Zelenko Protocol and Dr. Harvey Risch, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine. Welcome to the show, gentleman. “Is the fact that we’re approaching 1,600 deaths and we went from 300 – could possibly one of the reasons be that they the doctors who were dealing personally, first line of defense for patients not being allowed to use a drug that was effective before? “So this is why I’d like to hand it over to you, maybe Professor Risch would you like to come in first, and I’d like to hear from you Dr. Zelenko.” Professor Risch: “I think there are two things that explain what happened. The first one is that in the first epidemic, the country locked down quickly. And that means that the epidemic didn’t build up before its transmission between people was reduced because of the lockdown. “The second time there was a much longer wait, and that means the epidemic got much more widely established in the population. And so it built up much higher before the lockdown, and you’ve seen how much it’s built up in the way that an epidemic will build up. So the lockdown now – if it stays in effect, if it has some effect with compliance in the population – then it will come back down again, but it’s had a lot longer time to build up. “That accounts for the number of cases. The number of deaths, however, depends on the adequacy of treatment, not just the number of cases. And here you have exactly what you said, that we have available outpatient medications to use that are effective, they’re not being used, that were used in the first phase of the first epidemic, and are apparently not being used now. “Hydroxychloroquine is an important component of that. It’s not the only one; there are other medications, as well. But the important thing is to be aggressive about treating early the people who need to be treated, and that does not seem to be happening. And so that’s what is the problem right now.” SHAW: “Dr. Zelenko, do you have any input on this from your perspective, from your knowledge?” ZELENKO: “If you remember at that time, the entire world was focused on building hospital capacity, more respirators, and there was zero talk about any outpatient intervention. “It’s very important to begin to intervene, to decrease the viral load, as soon as possible within these high-risk patients. And I came up with a 3-pronged approach, which I subsequently modified and put and other things, as well, again based on evidence and experience. But the idea is like this, and this one’s based on data that came out of the Far East, specifically South Korea, and also the work of Dr. Raoul from Marseille. France. “But basically, the main element of this treatment approach is zinc. Zinc inhibits a very important enzyme called RNA dependent RNA polymerase or replicase. It basically stops the virus from replicating or copying its genetic material, essentially reducing the amount of virus. “However, zinc doesn’t get into the cell of the viruses, they need a way to get the zinc into the cell, and that’s the role of hydroxychloroquine in the outpatient setting. Hydroxychloroquine has four other, fourfold mechanisms of action, but those are relevant in the later stages of the disease. “What I’m concentrating on specifically is the zinc ionophore property or the zinc transport channel property of hydroxychloroquine which lets the zinc go from outside the cell, inside the cell. “And 3rd component of this was the antibiotic I was using azithromycin, based on the work of Dr. Raoul, and it turns out that azithromycin has both antiviral properties and antibacterial properties, and seem to prevent pulmonary complications. “But it turns out, very simple: If you wait more than five, six days, that’s when all the lung damage and the blood clots happen. So it’s very important to intervene as soon as possible, as soon as you see the patient and you have clinical suspicion. And it’s very easy to make the diagnosis. “Now there are other drugs that come up, which I do use in an outpatient setting, one’s zyphermexin, an anti-parasitic agent, another is dexamethasone which is a very powerful steroid, or an inhaled steroid, then I use blood thinners like lovenox for blood clots, and I use a combination of these things personally tailored to each patient. But the principle, the point is, the Zelenko Protocol is not the drug. The Zelenko Protocol is a concept. The concept is to stratify the patients, find the ones who have a 5-10% chance of dying, deploy your resources, your treatment, as soon as possible with these patients, and then use a various cocktail of medications to destroy the virus.” SHAW: “I understand you call the method the ‘gun and the bullet’, with hydroxychloroquine being the gun, and the zinc being the bullet.” ZELENKO: “Yes, there’s a concept of synergy. Each one of them, zinc and hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, they may have – they do have – antiviral properties. But when you put them in synergy together, they become extremely powerful. “So for example, if I give you a gun with no bullets, so yes, you can hit someone over the head with it but it’s not a very effective way. If I just give you bullets, maybe I can throw them into a fire and they’ll go all over the place, but again, it’s not very efficient. But if I give you the two together, I give you a gun and a bullet, now you have a delivery system of a lethal weapon, and that’s the same idea here. Hydroxychloroquine delivers the zinc very efficiently into the cell where the virus is, where the enzyme is or replicates, and inhibits viral replication. “I had people reach out to me, askanim (representatives) from Israel and asked me to get involved, which I did, and I reached out to the Minister of Health Mr. Litzman, and believe it or not I actually got through to him, and we spoke a few times. He was very pleasant, but dismissed me and he referred my recommendations to some subordinates who never took it anywhere. I kept on harassing him, a few times a week, and finally, what made the difference was he got COVID-19 himself, and took the Zelenko Protocol and got better right away. “After that, his attitude had changed – there’s no wise man like one with experience – and the availability of outpatient treatment was no longer being actively obstructed by the government. “However then something happened, and there was a transition in ministers, and after that I’ve been trying to reach out to the new Minister of Health and it’s been a waste of time. They don’t respond and they’re not interested to hear what I’m saying. So that’s the tragedy. “I’d like to tell the Israeli people that people should not be dying from COVID-19. The reason why people are dying is from ineffectual leadership and ineffectual policies. If you could take the politics and the economics out of it, then we can use their $20 treatment plan at home that will significantly reduce mortality and morbidity. “And let me give you the exact numbers: I actually published a study and it will be published in a peer-reviewed journal within the next three weeks, an international journal, and it showed an 84% reduction in hospitalization with a very low P-value, it was statistically significant, that means 84% of the people being admitted, at least to my data, in the hospitals – we could reduce that amount of hospitalization by at least fivefold. “And that’s the tragedy here. The tragedy here is that, yes, we got much better at inpatient management programs, we have remdesivir …there’s stem cells now; there’s plenty of good intervention. However it’s much easier to put out a small fire than it is a large fire, and it’s much better not to get into the hospital, not to get on a respirator. And that’s what we do in every aspect of medicine, or any aspect of life; let’s say someone has cancer. We don’t wait for it to become metastatic before we treat it, we treat right away. Or someone who’s septic; we don’t wait for them to be half-dead, we treat right away. Someone has a fire in the house; you don’t wait for the whole house to be on fire, you call the fire Department as soon as possible. Same thing with COVID. Unfortunately, for some reason, the governments of this world have put their head into the ground and they’re not acting in the best interest of their people.” SHAW: “The headline of what you just said is basically that you recommended your protocol through the Israeli Health Minister who contracted COVID himself and was cured by your protocol. By the way, how old was the Health Minister at the time? He wasn’t a young man.” ZELENKO: “Yes, he fell into the high-risk category, he was definitely over the age of 60, I think closer to 70. “ SHAW: “And yet, your protocol helped cure him and yet despite the fact that you helped save the former Health Minister, now the Israeli government is blocking a drug that saved the last Health Minister, it’s amazing. But I want to tell you, your name came up, by the way. I did an earlier video, and if any of our viewers want to see, go to YouTube or Google TV and look for COVID and the Drug We Dare Not Speak its Name. And in that video I introduce, among other people, I interviewed a Dutch doctor, Dr. Elenz ann his story was this, I’ll go through it very quickly. He’s got a local clinic in the south of Holland and he had a quite a number of patients who came down with COVID in the early stage. And he obeyed the Dutch health authorities ruling of anybody coming down with COVID must self-isolate and take paracetamol. The result of that was that all 25 of his patients were hospitalized, and out of those 25, twelve died from following the regulations given by the Dutch health authorities which were taken from the World Health Organization, paracetamol. “So what he did then, he said ‘there must be something more effective I can do.’ And like any self-respecting doctor, he went to the study and looked for the science, and one of the things he came across was something called the Zelenko Protocol. And he studied it, and he had another patient who came down with COVID and tentatively, he said ‘you know what, I want to try this drug. It seems to have been effective in America and other places. And the patient agreed. And he gave this patient the protocol medication in the combination and dosage that you prescribed, and within two to three days that patient got better. And he repeated this with another nine patients, all of them got better, none of the went to the hospital, none of them died. But what happened with Dr. Evans? He received a warning from the Dutch health authorities instructing him that he must not prescribe hydroxychloroquine or anything like this in any of the dosages to his outpatients. And in my video, you can see him making the statement: ‘Better my patients are alive illegally than legally dead.’ “So this is a dilemma we’re in today where doctors are fighting a rearguard action and being called charlatans and criminals for taking actions that any self-respecting doctor should take. What’s your take on this, Professor Risch? Where doctors are put in this dilemma?” RISCH: “I think you have to address who benefits from these policies, what other factors there are in this society that are improved when people do not do well because of succumbing to the epidemic. “I wonder, if I could return to the issue of the lockdown: I think that there is a confusion about the purpose of lockdowns. The lockdown in the first place in Israel was the right thing to do, because in the new epidemic when you don’t know how to manage it, the only thing you can do to suppress it is to lock down the separate the people so that it’s not communicated from person to person. At that time you have to figure out how to manage it. But what happened is the lockdown was so effective in suppressing it the first time, that Israel did not understand the infection in the first place – that probably nobody understood the infection in the first place. But what happened is that Israel relapsed, that when the cases were down into the single numbers, zero or one a day, that it thought it was now under control. It did not understand that there were maybe ten times the number of asymptomatic people who were infectious in the population than the number of cases that it was seeing. “And so when it opened the lockdown, within a few weeks we started to see the new epidemic start, and then gradually took off until there were enough people, so it would go up exponentially. Israel had needed the first lockdown to go at least a month longer to eradicate all the cases, asymptomatic and symptomatic, in the population in order to have control. That the only function of a lockdown in actually controlling the epidemic is to get rid of all of the cases, and that is a major task when you have tens of thousands of people in the population who are infected, as there are now in Israel – and the United States, for that matter. “So the function of a lockdown now is only because you cannot completely eradicate the infection without a much longer lockdown in the first place. We’re talking probably like two or three months or more. And maybe even a lot more. Where the infection is now in Israel, lockdown cannot do any of that at all. All it can do is prolong when the epidemic will recur as soon as you reopen the lockdown. So the lockdown is only giving you time to figure out what to do, and that time is crucial because you have to actually figure out what to do. But all you’re doing is postponing it. You’re postponing the inevitable, and that’s not helpful, and you’re destroying the economy of the society. You’re destroying people’s psychological resilience and so on, and those are not trivial things, that they increase a lot of medical and social problems that are very costly to society, as well. So a lockdown is not just a free way of suppressing the epidemic, and in fact it does not do that in the long run. “What has to be faced now, is how to deal with the people who need to be treated. The whole society does not need to be treated. It’s not really important that large numbers of people become cases of this disease, because in fact you want that to happen, because we need to generate what we call herd immunity. That is the only thing that will end the epidemic. It’s what ended the epidemic in Dr. Zelenko’s village, it’s what ended the epidemic, at least in the in the first instance, in various Jewish communities in Brooklyn. It is when the population has immunity to the disease of about 40-50% of the population is what empirically we see is needed. That’s going to have to happen in Israel. The question is: How do you protect the high-risk people from dying while that happens? And the answer to that is, you treat them aggressively as Dr. Zelenko has outlined. “So the real question here is: There’s a lot of science now to show that those very people, high-risk people, treated immediately as outpatients in the first five days of their symptoms, there’s a lot of evidence to show that the Zelenko Protocol and related kinds of outpatient medications are very effective in treating that disease and preventing those people from being hospitalized, let alone dying. “So that’s empirical evidence for it. What empirical evidence is there against it? The answer is there is none. The evidence that’s used to say that it doesn’t work is evidence that applies to hospitalized patients already, or to low-risk patients where the medication is shown to be less effective. But that is smearing the distinction about who needs to be treated. The people who need to be treated are the high-risk people who will decline, who will progress in the illness dramatically and need to be saved. And the evidence for that is seven nonrandomized trials, and now five randomized trials, that together show benefit of these medications. So the question that Israelis are not asking is: Why are they not treating? And the answer to that, I believe, is that they are making an assumption that what the WHO and the FDA in the United States, and the CDC in the United States, and people like Dr. Fauci in the United States have said they are assuming that those statements are correct, and that is an assumption that any person based with a life-threatening dilemma would evaluate for themselves. It is something that, when you make an assumption and you see it doesn’t work, the least you could do is reevaluate your assumption. And I don’t see that happening. I see that there’s an arrogance to assume that assumption, period, without readdressing it. And that is the crucial problem here, that until those assumptions coming from the WHO and other agencies are reevaluated and found to be wanting, that that they are false, that until those assumptions are reevaluated that people will continue to die in ever-greater numbers until the entire epidemic has passed. And that’s the crucial stage that is not being recognized here.” SHAW: “Yes, I think before we move the conversation on, Professor Risch, I think there are a couple of medical experts in Israel that would agree with you. I’m reading here about Professor Ze’ev Rothstein who is the head of the Hadassa Medical Center, calls a lockdown a disaster for a country and for its economy. And also doctor Cyril Cohen, head of the immunotherapy laboratory at Bar Ilan University has said that the people have little faith, because people have lost trust in the government right now, and he said the government lacks a standardization that has caused disillusionment, and basically says everything in Israel has become political and not health-based, in other words he said it’s a mess. “But let’s move the conversation on a bit, because my understanding is, and correct me if I’m wrong, that the one of the big hammers that came down on hydroxychloroquine in any form, particularly even in early-stage patients, was created because of some critical trials in very late-stage patients which showed that the use of hydroxychloroquine in those cases created some side effects including heart defects. How can you address that from your knowledge, Professor?” RISCH: “So, first of all, there were two papers published in the New England Journal in The Lancet that were fraudulent, and this shut down the discussion about hydroxychloroquine, and even if they weren’t fraudulent, they were irrelevant, because they were dealing with hospitalized patients. And this is what I said about blurring the distinction about who needs to be treated. This drug has primary importance for early treatment in outpatients. It doesn’t matter what it does in hospitalized patients; that’s a whole separate discussion. We’re not discussing that. We’re discussing about use in outpatients only. So those trials, whether they were fraudulent or not, are irrelevant. And that’s the problem here, that no one is thinking carefully about treating an outpatient. If you go to the US FDA, Food and Drug Administration, its website had a big warning on its website since July 1st saying that the FDA warns against using hydroxychloroquine in outpatient settings because of the risk of heart arrhythmia problems. And underneath that warning, it says in small letters, that it bases this warning on the adverse events observed in hospitalized patients, and these were severely ill hospitalized patients. It extrapolates from severe illness in the hospital, this is the pneumonia acute respiratory distress syndrome patient in the hospital, it extrapolates from that to the flu-like illness in outpatients. It’s a totally fraudulent web page, it’s a fraudulent warning, it’s there because of other reasons why the FDA is not telling the truth, and this is not a conspiracy; it’s a statement that’s easily verifiable just by looking on the FDA’s website. “So you cannot rely on fake information that you can yourself validate is untrue. And I think this has been the problem all along, that there has been meddling on the basis of drug companies and political influence throughout this whole process that’s caused people to believe the interference. And I would liken this to the 1960s and 70s of the tobacco companies interference in societies’ protecting themselves from smoking, where you had a drug, the cigarette addiction, which was paraded around by the tobacco companies against massive scientific evidence, you have the tobacco companies running interference saying ‘the science isn’t settled, we don’t really know, we need more studies’ and so on. Here you have Dr. Fauci doing the same thing, saying, ‘the science isn’t settled, we need randomized, controlled trials before we can say anything,’ when the science is very fully settled, like it was very fully settled for tobacco smoking generations ago. And this is the problem, that there is running interference for nonmedical, nonscientific reasons that are going on, that are causing the suppression of the actual science. “The science is there for anybody to read. I don’t have to be the person, anybody could pick up the nine or ten studies, or twelve studies, and read them themselves and draw their own conclusions. The problem is that people are being misled into smearing the distinctions about who needs to be treated. This has to be science about outpatients, and it has to be science about high-risk people, and it has to be science about those people treated early, in the first five days. You do that, you’ll see that all of the studies show benefit, and so you have to believe your own eyes; that’s the real problem here.” SHAW: “Well you mentioned Dr. Fauci, but was there some sort of question with regard to Dr. Fauci and AIDS-HIV?” RISCH: “Between 1987 and 1989 he sidelined combined antibiotic by the name of bactrim that was generic at the time that was very effective in preventing what’s called PCP pneumonia which was killing gay men with AIDS, and he was asked by the AIDS community in New York, by activists who demanded to meet with him and he finally met with them, he was asked just to say to clinicians, ‘consider using Bactrim for preventing PCP pneumonia in your patients’. Just to say that, not to not to say this is official, just to say ‘consider doing that’. Hhe refused to do that, he said, ‘We’ll only do this with a randomized control trial.’ We’ve heard that mantra before. And he said that, and the community itself raised enough money do its own trial itself, and it took two years until they have proven that it works, and it came back to him. Meanwhile, in that time, 17,000 people had died in New York City because of AIDS, because of this PCP pneumonia, and during that time Dr. Fauci had enabled the FDA to approve the medication AZT for treating AIDS, which worked to some degree, it’s very toxic medication, but worked to some degree along with other medications in treating AIDS. This was then a patent medication that was very expensive, whereas bactrim was generic and very inexpensive. And you see exactly the same pattern in the last six months of the FDA in concert with Dr. Fauci and the NIH panels that he’s arranged to discuss his various drugs, remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine, and they’ve done exactly the same thing. The panels have had major conflicts of interest; a panel with 54 scientists on it and had 18 with financial ties to pharma manufacturers. They went and approved the patent medication and they disapproved the generic medication hydroxychloroquine. So you can see the same misdirection occurring now that occurred then. It’s the same thing, and we haven’t learned to understand all of these malfeasances, and we take these people as if they are guides in understanding the science, and they are but they’re understanding the wrong science and they’re manipulating it for nefarious purposes that have economic and political benefit, and not the health benefit of the people who are dying. “And the bottom line is, again, doctors should go to the literature and read the studies. If they don’t believe me, if they don’t believe Dr. Zelenko, they don’t believe anyone, go and read the studies and draw your own conclusions. The studies are all there, there’s only a small number of them, it takes an hour or an hour-and-a-half to go through the seven or eight studies and then decide. That’s the bottom line here.” SHAW: “The article was retracted and yet the band stayed on. Dr. Zelenko, do you have any observations on this particular issue? Because this is a critical point when it came to making anybody that prescribed or wanted to promote hydroxychloroquine heretics.” ZELENKO: “Yes I have some observations. First of all, when the FDA took away the emergency use authorization for the use of hydroxychloroquine, if you look into their document, one of the bases for that recommendation was the fraudulent Lancet study – now this is very important – after it was already withdrawn. They used a proven-fraudulent and retracted study as a basis for the removal of the emergency use authorization. “Now let me tell you, I advised several countries; some listen, some don’t. But I was at that time dealing with the country Chile and we were making progress in getting Chile to consider using early intervention. And then the WHO put a moratorium on the use of hydroxychloroquine, again, based on the Lancet study, they stopped talking to me. After that was withdrawn, the Lancet study, the WHO walked back its moratorium, but very, very quietly, and even to this day most Israeli politicians think that the WHO is in support of the moratorium against the drug hydroxychloroquine. “I just want to point out something, that I spoke to an electrophysiologist in America. There are 3,000 electrophysiologists in America. These are the doctors who deal with electrical heart issues, and they have a WhatsApp group. So I asked them, has anyone seen any cardiac complications from the use of hydroxychloroquine together with azithromycin, specifically with a QT prolongation, and leading to any negative outcome? The answer was ‘zero’. Zero in America in the outpatient setting. Zero. “Okay, in the inpatient setting, yes, there were events, but in the ICU setting – let me be very specific. And that’s true, and I’ve never advocated for the use of these drugs in the ICU. And by the way, 30-40% of the people in the ICU from COVID developed cardiomyopathy, but it’s very hard to know what’s causing what. Now, if you look at remdesivir, and you look at the package insert for remdesivir, here are the following side effects: 6% develop atrial fibrillation, 1% have cardiac arrest. 23% develop liver dysfunction. 19% develop kidney dysfunction. 15% develop lung dysfunction. “Now Josef Goebbels said to accuse the other of what you’re guilty of. So in the case of remdesivir, it had a 6% cardiac arrhythmia concern. Atrial fibrillation is a serious arrhythmia, that can lead to strokes. Now, no one is talking about that, whereas hydroxychloroquine, which has been around for 65 years, is given to pregnant women, it’s given to children, it’s given to nursing women, and it’s currently being used by millions of people around the world for rheumatological diseases and the use for malaria treatment and/or prophylaxis safely with no problems, has been vilified with complete falsehood, it’s a false narrative designed to vilify and confuse and scare the public and scare the doctors who prescribe it. And the reason is very, very simple, at least in America. “One is the treatment I’m advocating costs $20, and it’s oral, and can be given at home. Now remdesivir, and plasma, all these expensive treatments require inpatient hospitalization. Now my data shows the fivefold reduction in hospitalizations if you treat early. That means a decrease in market share for the use of expensive drugs by 5 fold or 80 to 85%. So what the threat here is, a multibillion dollar threat to a pharmaceutical industry that has a conflict of interest and a very powerful lobby and they have a lot of political influence. “Number 2, at least in America, and since whatever America does, the world follows, they’re right before a presidential election. The President, as a matter of record, came out in support of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment modality. The enemies of the President went absolutely hostile, and began to propagandize against hydroxychloroquine, not for medical reasons, for political reasons. “So what I’m saying is death by politics, and death by profit, and death by arrogance. But that has nothing to do with the actual validity or the clinical efficacy and safety of the medication. And that’s the crime here, and I would even frame it as genocide against the vulnerable. Because as a society we are responsible to care for the elderly, our grandparents, our parents; those that are chronically ill. It’s our responsibility to ensure their well-being as much as possible and these are the people that this virus is destroying and this is being willfully allowed to happen for ungodly reasons.” SHAW: “Alright, Professor Risch: There’s another study, called I think the Boulware NEJM study, which is accepted as gospel. But what is the Bulwer study, and why is it faulty?” RISCH: “Dr. Boulware’s main problem was that he declared that the drugs had no efficacy, meaning that they had no benefit. That’s actually an utterly false conclusion. What the studies show is that it does have benefit, but that benefit could not be distinguished from chance. That’s what the lack of statistical significance means. So people run with the conclusions of the author without actually addressing what the study shows, and this is like I said, that when you read a study you don’t accept what the author says, you read what the results are and draw your own conclusions. “And so his studies, taken individually, show little evidence of significant benefit. But taken together, they provide evidence of benefit – not at the level of statistical significance, but there are more studies out there, more randomized trials, and in combination they begin to show a pattern, and that is what we see – is that the studies that have been large enough that have been carefully done -Dr. Boulware’s studies were not carefully done, they involved a placebo that was not a sugar pill, but with folic acid, a vitamin, that itself has some degree of antiviral benefit. And he showed, in one of the most recent of his papers, that the subjects in his study could easily tell the difference between the placebo and the active treatment hydroxychloroquine, because the pills were different and these were all health care workers and they knew the difference, and they could tell. And so his outcomes, in fact, many of them were subjective, that people were asked on the Internet to report on whether they had symptoms or not, and the degree of symptom reporting is somewhat subjective, and when you know whether you’re taking the active medication or the placebo, the study isn’t blinded, and with this subjective outcome that reduces the quality of the information. So those are flaws in his studies, there’s more, but those are the important flaws in their studies that reduce what results there could be to the ones that were actually shown: a weak positive benefit. “And I think this is part of the whole industry of misrepresentation of hydroxychloroquine Dr. Boulware’s has been funded by pharma companies, and he hasn’t revealed that fact in any of his papers of the pharma companies that are making competing products to the ones he studied. He has not revealed that in any of the five papers he put forward this year. “So you have to address.. and he’s not the only one there are other authors of these papers, like Desai and Survisfir papers that were retracted, you have to ask why all of that misrepresentation is occurring. Why in the recovery trial did they use 2 1/2 grams of hydroxychloroquine the first day in treatment, when that’s a very likely toxic dose. Even the WHO says it’s a toxic dose. Why did they use that at such high doses in treatment, when in fact it can’t possibly be effective, it could only be toxic and can only suppress the immune system at such high doses. Why would they do that, if they’re supposed to know what this drug does and why they’re studying it? “So you have to look at all of the malfeasance that’s gone on in these studies, in the large-scale amount of studying of this drug to show that it doesn’t have benefit. Whose ox is being gored in this? Who gets the benefit of these bad results? There’s almost no studies, except for the non randomized ones in foreign countries, that have looked at an honest representation of who needs to be studied and when, and those are the ones that I’ve have been talking about, these outpatient studies done early. We have hydroxychloroquine versus other medications for standard of care, and those are the ones that show benefit, they all show statistically significant benefit, at least twofold. “The most amazing study that came out a week or two ago was done in Saudi Arabia which turns out over the last 20 years had has dramatically improved its medical care system so it now has a universal medical care system with universal identifiers, every person in the entire population is identified in Saudi Arabia for his medical care, and when the pandemic started in Saudi Arabia they set up 278 fever clinics across the country, and we’re seeing everybody who became ill. And what they did is they examined all of the some 8,000 patients who presented to their fever clinics between the beginning and the end of June of this year, they treated some of them about 3,300 I believe, with hydroxychloroquine plus zinc, and the other 4,600 got other treatments, what we call standard of care, plus zinc. So everybody in Saudi Arabia was getting zinc, but in their 8,000 people, 3,300 or so also got hydroxychloroquine. “They followed up everybody, all 8,000 of these people, they know how who was hospitalized and who died from that. What they found was in the 3,300 people who got hydroxychloroquine plus zinc, seven people died. In the 4,600 people who got standard of care plus zinc, 54 people died. It’s a fivefold reduction in mortality, and 80% benefit in mortality based on hydroxychloroquine plus zinc. “This was a national study; it was done across the entire country of 35 million people, and therefore it’s not a random sample of people in the population of cases in the population, it is a definitive study of the entire countries experience at that time. And it has huge statistical significance showing this 80% benefit, a fivefold benefit, using hydroxychloroquine plus zinc. This is not something that you start quibbling about randomized controlled trials. This is extremely substantial evidence showing that this drug combination works.” SHAW: “The one thing I want our viewers to be aware of, that in my opinion, Professor Risch, that you have dispassionate scientific observations and you have no vested interest in putting your head on the block.” RISCH: “Well, if people want to criticize me it’s easy to do that; there’s lots of mantras out there that can be used for that, but I certainly have no vested interest, no financial interest, there’s no financial interest to be made off of a $20 treatment.” SHAW: “So tell me something about the economic standard report, why is it so important?” RISCH: “This was a combined effort by number of virologists and clinicians and epidemiologists to look at the whole history of what happened in this pandemic, and how hydroxychloroquine evolved, and how it’s been examined and studied, and the malfeasance that’s gone on with it. And it also came to the same conclusions, and not just my conclusions, other people have been objective about evaluating the scientific and medical evidence come to the same conclusions, that the drug is effective, that there’s been a number of studies that have run interference in trying to portray the drug as hazardous, and in fact I haven’t even spoken to the purported hazard other than the FDA’s fraudulent webpage, but, so there’s been a lot of malfeasance and misrepresentation and this report is very extensive very well footnoted and very well researched, and shows beyond a shadow of a doubt the benefit and safety of hydroxychloroquine, “One very interesting fact that I just learned yesterday is that a friend of my wife has been having some hair-loss problems and she went to her clinician, and after working through all the differential diagnoses, ruling out thyroid problems and so on, her internal medicine physician said ‘I think you should try hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine has had some evidence of benefit for hair loss,’ and there was no problem filling this prescription, no problem prescribing it, no problem filling the prescription at the pharmacy for hair loss. And so here you have the most trivial of reasons why the drug is safe and useful it can be obtained, and yet in a life-threatening circumstance there’s suddenly after billions of uses of this drug over 65 years by hundreds of millions of people safely, now you have a roadblock for obviously irrational and non-medical reasons. This is the massive hypocrisy that is just not understandable why people would believe such a false narrative.” SHAW: “I have to ask you to elucidate on something you said for the matter of record. You said the FDA had a fraudulent web page. What is it in your opinion that’s fraudulent?” RISCH: “So this was the FDA’s web page, it’s still there, well it was yesterday, I’m assuming it’s still there today. It says that the warning against hydroxychloroquine for use in outpatients is based on adverse events seen in patients in hospitalized patients. As you’ve heard in the discussion so far, the COVID-19 disease in the first five days is a disease of viral replication. It’s a flu-like illness. Nobody is hospitalized for flu-like illness. People get hospitalized for pneumonia, for decompensation, for the inability to breathe, and that’s pneumonia, what we call Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and its variants that occur in COVID-19. Those are hospitalized patients. They become very sick, they have involvement of the heart muscle, with cardiomyopathy, and various other organs in the body including the clotting system and those are the patients that hospitalization is required in order to attempt to treat them, and that’s the life threatening disease. That is a totally different disease than the flu-like early illness in outpatients. And one cannot extrapolate from people who are severely ill with all of these different organ involvements of the virus in the immune system to people who have just viral replication and the beginnings of the immune systems’ dealing with that viral replication. There are two totally different illnesses, you cannot extrapolate from one illness to the other illness. That that is reprehensible by itself. “Secondly, the FDA knows that if it had adverse events information on outpatients it would have used that. There’s no reason to jeopardize a public statement by putting false information out, when you could put true information out. So if the FDA actually had true adverse events information in outpatients it would have said that on its website, and the fact that it didn’t means that it has no systematic information about adverse events in outpatients. That is the case because the FDA removed the emergencies authorization early this year on March 29th, and so it established it on March 29th only for severely ill inpatients, and removed it in May, and during that time the only major use of hydroxychloroquine in the United States was in severely ill hospitalized patients. So there cannot be any information about systematic use in outpatients in the United States, because the FDA disallowed it for all of those months when more than 90% of the COVID-19 cases occurred. So this is a massive misrepresentation that’s just obvious from its website. “The third thing is it says that it’s occurred because of cardiac arrhythmia events. In fact as Dr. Zelenko said, the cardiac electrophysiologists know, and have said, that there are no cardiac ventricular arrhythmias occurring in outpatient use of hydroxychloroquine, even with azithromycin. Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin and more than 30 other drugs have a cardiac effect called prolonged QT interval. What that means is part of the heart conduction cycle is lengthened slightly. That happens, it is not life threatening. There is a theoretical risk of perhaps one in a million that a serious adverse event can occur from that. For that reason, doctors are careful and they look at risk factors for that event when they prescribe hydroxychloroquine. That’s proper, that’s part of clinical practice. It’s not automatic, and we shouldn’t be giving this necessarily over the counter. It needs medical evaluation, but it is safe. It’s safer than paracetamol, as you well know. “And so now we have studies that purport to show that hydroxychloroquine causes increased risks. There was a study published in Lancet rheumatology by the Oxford group that combined databases from 14 large major medical records databases across the country. This is a nonsense paper that’s another part of the interference that’s been run against this drug. This paper was out in preprint form in May when I criticized it at length in my paper in The American Journal of Epidemiology on May 27th, showing that this was a fishing expedition of 16 possible adverse events that could have occurred, and they picked the top three and called them the ones that they were interested in, and they misrepresented the statistical significance by cherrypicking those in a fishing expedition. “Furthermore, they actually did evaluate the cardiac arrhythmias and put that in an appendix table where they refused to actually do a meta analysis of those data, but it’s easy to do; anyone can do it. I did it, and it shows that there is no relationship whatsoever between taking hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in average cardiac arrhythmia events. That’s in their paper and they hid that by not talking about it in the bulk of their paper, in the text of the paper, but it’s in the appendix of their paper. “So you see all this malfeasance going on to try to suppress what are the actual physiologic medical and beneficial effects of this drug. You cannot have a drug that’s been taken billions of times by hundreds of millions of people for 65 years suddenly become hazardous overnight because it’s proclaimed by medical authorities. And all of the science that’s been trumped up to show that is fake science. And so, who are you going to believe? 65 years, billions of usage of people all over the world, or PR of so-called experts telling you what to believe, and not even showing you what the data actually are.” SHAW: “Before I hand it over to Dr. Zelenko, for reasons that’ll be obvious in the question, Professor Risch, have there been studies, and is there data on the efficacy of the Zelenko Protocol in early stage patients, and were there any randomized or non-randomized trials in outpatients, and explain to our viewers the difference between the two, randomized and non-randomized.” RISCH: “I believe Dr. Zelenko is actually carrying out one of these trials at the moment. I would be interested to find out how it’s accrual has been going and where it’s at. “But the difference between randomized and non-randomized trials: In a randomized trial, the patients agree not to know whether they’re getting the active drug or a comparison, usually a placebo, or regular standard of care without the active drug. They don’t know and the investigator doesn’t know, and actually what determines whether they get the drug or not is a random choice, it’s like flipping a coin to tell whether they get the drug or not. “In a non-randomized trial, some other reason occurs why the patients get the drug. For example, the patient himself or herself chooses to take the drug, or not. Or the doctor says ‘I think you should take the drug’ and the patient agrees – those are the typical reasons why people get the drug. In most cases, in the studies where the patient or the doctors are allowed to choose to take the drug or not, it’s usually sicker patients who get the active drug. That’s been true in at least two studies that I’m acquainted with that have published information on that, and in fact most of those studies you could look at the demographic characteristics of the patients who did and did not get the active drug and you’ll see that the people who got the active drug tend to be sicker, later stage, and have more other medical conditions than the people who are more well when they got the COVID who chose not to take the active drug. “So the difference between the two studies is that in a non-randomized trial there can be differences, systematic differences between the people who get the drug and people who don’t. The question, however, is: Can you adjust statistically for those differences? And the answer is, in most cases, yes, there are statistical and epidemiological methods for adjusting and controlling for differences between the people who do get the drug and who don’t get the drug. “In a randomized controlled trial, in theory you don’t need to do that because the randomization splits people equally according to all of those other, what we call confounding factors, that might bias who the people are who get the drug and who got the placebo. However, randomized control trials have to be huge in order for those, the balance, and all of those other variables, to be the same between who gets a drug and who doesn’t, and the randomized trials are rarely large enough for that purpose. They have to be in the tens of thousands of people in order for that to happen, and that’s usually not the case. And so a randomized trial with two or three hundred people in each treatment group is not necessarily balanced, and is no better than a non-randomized trial, and one has to look at the characteristics of who got the drug and who didn’t and adjust for them, just like in a nonrandomized trial. “But because there’s this theoretical idea that randomization removes biases no matter how big the study is, people naively think that randomized trials are gold standards, and they’re not. There’ve been numerous papers written about why randomized trials that are good in theory, are generally not necessarily so good in real clinical life. That’s the issue that it’s naivete that says we should only be using randomized trials, not science. Science says, look at all the evidence and decide from all the evidence. “So now I’d also really like to know whether Dr. Zelenko’s trialis being successfully continued.” SHAW: “Okay, Dr. Zelenko, so what’s your knowledge and experience of the outcome of the efficacy of the Zelenko Protocol on outpatients in randomized or non-randomized trials?” ZELENKO: “Yes so to answer Dr. Risch’s question, I helped organize a randomized controlled trial with Saint Francis Hospital, I assume that’s what you’re referring to, in Long Island and there we randomized the antibiotic that could be used in the outpatient setting. In other words it was zinc and hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin or doxycycline. And the goal is to get the end number the number of participants around 750 and I think we’re up to 200 or 300. There was a quiet summer; we weren’t getting too many patients. So it’s in progress, hopefully the trial ends in December, so hopefully within like January or February we should have that data. “So that’s all I could comment on that. However, what I am seeing now is that there is a resurgence, people said a second wave in the Jewish communities in New York, and at least in my world, Monsey and Monroe, there are hundreds of people that are getting sick, and almost no deaths, and only a few hospitalizations. And what seems to have changed is that the public is very much aware and scared that they need to initiate treatment as soon as possible, so they’re seeking help and medical intervention much quicker than they used to in the first wave. And I think that that is a very significant achievement in terms of public awareness. And then I think that’s making a tremendous impact on the outcome. “Now in my opinion, this treatment approach is the cure, so to speak, for this pandemic. And the reason why I say that is that the lockdown is killing more people than COVID. And what I mean by that is, at least in America – I can only speak about North America – there is a 600% increase in suicide. The amount of spousal abuse and the amount of child abuse is astronomical, and these are crimes of despair. And so in the amount of collateral damage from routine medical issues that could have been treated in a more timely fashion, we haven’t yet even began to calculate the amount of collateral damage – people dying from heart disease and need for hip repair and all these types of replacements; there’s a lot of routine medical care that people have not getting because of the lack of resources. “Not to mention the economic disaster. You know , the last five months has witnessed the biggest loss of wealth globally than in the history of humanity up to that point. In other words in the last five months this world has suffered an economic catastrophe, and that’s not a small thing because people’s likelihood is their vitality, and the amount of psychotrauma – I have eight children, I mean they were going crazy, not going to school. Fortunately they’re now back in school, but you know it’s not a healthy way to raise children. Especially with children where the COVID-19 virus is much safer in children than influenza. I’d rather they just get COVID than influenza. Influenza kills kids, and COVID doesn’t, in most cases. “So, there’s no common sense, and people are being governed by emotion, and people are being governed by ulterior motives, and I’m pleading with the world leadership I’m pleading with an irony, by the way, is that all the world leaders that I know all have a stash of hydroxychloroquine. Even President Trump, I sent him a letter in March with my recommendation for him, and he ended up taking hydroxychloroquine and zinc for prophylaxis based on my recommendations. He made that announcement at a press conference. And I know other world leaders like President Bolsonaro from Brazil who was treated with my protocol and got better, and then the President of Honduras, and many others that I know of, that in Ukraine and Russia, that all these powerful people know the truth, all these powerful people have their own supply of drugs for themselves and for their families; it’s just the reality of this corrupt world that the people that are most vulnerable are the ones being hurt. “I plead with the public to act in the best interest of your families. There are plenty of other options that are non-prescription. There are prophylactic options, there are other ionophores that are over-the-counter that can help zinc get into the cells, and may have some significant prophylactic benefit. Of course hydroxychloroquine is the best, but you have to deal with reality. If you can’t get it, you can’t get it; you have to have a Plan B in it. “You know, Dr. Risch taught me that the perfect is the enemy of the good. And what I’m witnessing is that there is a misunderstanding of what the world is going through. In my opinion, this is the World War Three. And the reason why I say this is because more than 180 countries are fighting the same enemy. If that’s not a World War, than I don’t know what is. And in times of global catastrophe, one thing we don’t have is time. Now all these fancy studies which have scientific and statistical benefit and value, it has to be weighed against the pressing need of the moment. Now, when you’re in the middle of a war – you don’t go to war with the army you want, you go war with the army you have. And you don’t stop using bullets because you think in six months you’ll have a better bullet. Use the best bullets available at this point in time, in parallel with development of better therapeutics, and when better therapeutics become available, if they become available, you can transition to that. But not to act, and to let the public get slaughtered is it not an option in my opinion. And that’s the crime here, the crime is that people don’t understand the urgency of the moment. You know if Tel Aviv was being carpet bombed, I’m pretty sure that the Defense Department in Israel would not say ‘let’s wait until we finish all the research on the best weapon,’ they would use everything available to down the plane. And I don’t see this COVID-19 businesses as anything different. Use the best therapeutics available at this point, and then transition, like I said.” SHAW: “Yes I think there’s a lot of truth in what you said about the economic damage because I want to tell you to just yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel could be in lockdown for over a month. He said, ‘I’ll be honest, it will be not less than a month; it may take much longer.’ Now you can imagine the psychological, the physical, the health, the economic damage, the emotional damage it’s going to give to a lot of people. Could well be that by the time we come out there’s going to be, as you said, Dr. Zelenko, a lot more deaths from suicide, from drug taking, from abuse, from violence; and there could be a lot more homeless as well – the people who can’t afford to rent anymore, going to find themselves homeless. So the fallout is going to be absolutely awful. “But let me let me come onto another thing that I wanted to ask you about: I mentioned that Israel in the first wave had a remarkably low death rate and Professor Risch mentioned the remarkable results in Saudi Arabia so can you, Dr. Zelenko, add any other nations that you point to having low death rates when hydroxychloroquine was admitted, administered by itself or with zinc, or with any other medication. Can you give me examples of those countries that experience low COVID mortality?” ZELENKO: “Yes I can, and by the way you can look at the statistics, this is a death by affluence. And what I mean by that is that the more affluent countries have the luxury to allow their people to die by emphasizing the more expensive treatments in inpatient medicine. Whereas the poorer countries who cannot afford or don’t have the resources are by default using the most available and affordable options. So, for example, if you look at Uganda, I know the statistics very well, that Uganda has 44 million people and they take hydroxychloroquine liberally for malaria prophylaxis. They have 25 dead people. So I can tell you, I spearheaded the COVID response in a city in the Ukraine called Dnepropetrovsk. I was tasked with that, and there they have very little resources, anyone who’s going to get into respiratory distress is dead, so we basically started a mass prophylaxis campaign by his patients. And they have very low mortality. “If you look at Brazil, I think Dr. Risch also commented, I was dealing with the health system called Prevent Senior, which is they have a 500,000 souls over the age of 65 under their care, it’s a private health system, and they’ve been been employing early intervention in an outpatient setting, and they also have a very low mortality rate. If you look at statistics from France, the same thing. Anyone who does early intervention is seeing three- to four-fold or 70-80% decrease in mortality. “Now, if you have zinc and you do it my way, you can probably cut mortality closer to 90. But still, early intervention seems to be the key in high-risk patients, and there are various approaches you can take. There’s a Dr. Brody from Australia… has been seeing tremendous success. There’s a doctor from France, a world leader quoted using my protocol. Everyone’s saying the same thing: 80% reduction in death and hospitalization if you treat early. And that data is being imported from multiple continents, multiple health systems, and even in the inpatient setting, if you look at the study in NYU, were they compared hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin with that and the same thing with zinc, they have over 30% reduction of inpatient mortality. Or if you look at the Henry Ford study in Detroit, they didn’t use zinc, but they also have at least a 50% reduction in mortality. OK, it wasn’t so good, it went from 26 to 13, but still, it’s a significant reduction. So the data is there for anyone who wants to see. I don’t think we need more studies, I think we need proper action and proper health policy, we need leaders that are interested in taking care of their people more than covering themselves from liability or catering to special interests. And ultimately, I’m going to get a little theological here, but ultimately it comes down to the following idea, which I’ll tell you in the form of a joke: A child goes to his mother and says, ‘where do we come from?’ So his mother says, ‘we’re made in the image of G-d.’ Same child goes to his father and the father says, ‘we evolved from monkeys.’ The child is confused, so he goes back to his mother and says, ‘what’s going on here?’ The mother says, ‘it’s not a contradiction; that’s my side of the family, that’s his side of the family.’ “But the point here the point here is how do we look at human beings? How do we look at humanity? Are we made in the image of G-d, and the spark of the divine? If that’s the case, then we have to treat people in a divine way, and we don’t value one life over another. We do the best we can preserve the sanctity of life and that’s the basis of natural law, that people have human rights because they are made in the image of G-d. “Or, do we look at someone as they come from monkeys or just are animals, and just like we can buy and sell and slaughter an animal, same thing you can do with the elderly, same thing you could do with the infirm, that cost a lot to keep. It’s a slippery slope. “So the question is, how do you view human beings? If you view them from the lens of the divine, then that course of action, the moral, ethical, and the right thing to do objectively is to do everything you can to preserve the sanctity of life, even if it goes in the face of profits and for politics. So, that’s my commentary.” SHAW: “Well you know I find anyway where you’re talking to firstline doctors who are dealing with outpatients and having a personal hands-on approach to directly with their doctors, I found these doctors as you philosophize over there to be more compassionate, and maybe there’s a divide between the doctors who were there in personal contact, for several years often, with their patients and know them personally, there’s a direct connection, a personal connection, a spiritual connection if you like with that, as opposed to the bureaucrats that rule from above. But bringing it down to earth a little bit, I’d like to go back to Professor Risch, probably because of the time coming up to our final questions. Tell me about the Rutger Counselor Institute trial, that’s one that we never had mentioned before, but I think it’s relevant.” RISCH: “It’s one of the seven studies, the Saudi study was one that I mentioned; this was a study of outpatient usage of hydroxychloroquine in New Jersey. Here you had more than 1,000 people who came to the emergency rooms of the, I think it’s Hackensack Meridian Medical Center emergency rooms, and were treated as outpatients at the emergency rooms and sent home. Among the 1,097 were given hydroxychloroquine, and what they did is they matched for each one of those persons they matched 10 people who did not get hydroxychloroquine, they matched them on a whole host other things like age, gender, chronic illnesses, degree of disease progression – how many days from start of symptoms, and so on. And what they found is again a two-fold reduction in the risk of hospitalization for the people who got hydroxychloroquine, compared to the ones who didn’t. Again very statistically significant. This is a common factor whether with that study, or a study in Dora, in two nursing homes and other elderly populations in Marseille, studies in Brazil that Prevent Senior study that Dr. Zelenko was referring to. And another study that I’ve been involved with in another major HMO in Brazil that has 6 million members that showed the same benefit of hydroxychloroquine. These studies are all over the place, all showing exactly the same benefit. “There’s one other thing that I think with Dr. Zelenko was talking about, other kinds of evidence in countries that have started or stopped using hydroxychloroquine, was also in the northern state of Parai in Brazil where on April 6th they were having their pandemic that was exploding exponentially, the deaths were going up exponentially, and they took delivery, the medical care system took delivery of 90,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine and 75,000 doses of azithromycin. And over the next two to three weeks they started distributing those drugs to the patients that were coming in symptomatic of COVID, and what they found is about three to four weeks after that, the mortality which was going up exponentially turned down dramatically, and went down 8 fold. So when those drugs got into the population in use, in large numbers, the mortality, the cases were still going up, but the mortality dropped 8 fold with use of those two drugs. “You can’t make this stuff up, this is the problem. The evidence it just oozing out from everywhere you look around the whole world, all the studies that are just basic clear studies that that don’t mess up, don’t misrepresent who are being treated, who needs to be treated, and when they’re being treated, or in other words, early as outpatients. All the data showed the same thing. There is no data that shows it doesn’t work or no data that shows it’s unsafe in those patients. And so the science is completely clear cut, and as we’ve been discussing, and as you mentioned, the reasons for not accepting the science are economic, profit, political; those are the reasons. “What’s astonishing to me is the media complicit behaviors in this, that the mass media who have taken on political benefit as a reason for misreporting on the science, and this includes not just the mainstream standard media outlets, but also the medical reporting media – there are there are websites that report on medical news, and they have also almost entirely been co-opted by the same big lie narrative that the drug is hazardous, causes death from cardiac reasons, you see TV people saying ‘it will kill you’, and all this nonsense that remains unchallenged in the major media. The media are complicit with the big lie about all of this, and between that big lie and the economic and political interference, it’s very difficult for the truth of this message to come out, and it’s made me feel like I’m living in Germany in 1935, and honestly I can feel, I can see, why your average German, who had so much propaganda delivered at them from every side might have thought that that the Nazi government was the right nationalistic government for Germany, and had no idea about the validity of all of the media messages that they were being bombarded by. It was a big lie then, and we’re suffering from a big lie now. “I can understand why your average hospital clinician who does not see patients and treat patients themselves, and has no idea that almost every position across United States who actually sees COVID patients personally as outpatients and treats them, and sees the remarkable benefit of treating them, people who don’t do that are susceptible to the big lie in the major media and in the medical media, and therefore take the opposite positions, have not evaluated the evidence, and have succumbed to that big lie. “It’s not conspiracy theory, it’s the way that all of the economic and political interests have aligned, and it’s very easy to go out into the media and just read what all these reports are and why they misrepresent what the science says. I’ve been very clear and Dr. Zelenko has been very clear about the science, who needs to be treated and when, and when you do that the scientific results are clear, so the question is do you believe the misrepresentation or do you believe in going back to the original papers and they original science and read those. “I don’t see what more we can do, except to lobby for the truth here. And that’s the best we can do.” |
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‘We need to rethink hospitalizing so many coronavirus patients’ says Prof. Barbash“Haredim have improvised a home-care system; we should be funding doctors and nurses to do the same.”Arutz Sheva Staff , 13October2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/288980 Where’s the best place to treat coronavirus patients – at hospital, or at home? Following the media furor surrounding what turned out to be fabricated reports that the Belzer Rebbe was treated in his home for coronavirus by Hadassah hospital staff using Hadassah medical equipment, former director-general of the Health Minister, Professor Gabi Barbash, weighed in on the question of home treatment versus hospital treatment, and expressed his view that the way the health system is currently treating many coronavirus carriers should be rethought. “I’m not at all sure that the way we categorize patients, using a cutoff line of 93% oxygen saturation to determine who is seriously ill, is the right one,” he told Kan Reshet Bet on Tuesday. “I think it’s possible that this way of looking at things is causing us to hospitalize more people than is necessary, and that it would be better to treat them in the community [i.e. at home] if the health system was set up in such a way that this was possible.” Prof. Barbash then noted that, “The haredim are succeeding with this model, however,” referring not only to reports regarding the Belzer Rebbe, who was treated by a private specialist, but also to other reports that have been confirmed by haredi sources. These reports describe how hundreds of privately-owned ventilators are being lent out (at no charge) to coronavirus patients, thus enabling them to remain at home, with or without constant medical supervision as the case demands, with the double benefit of keeping them out of hospital and taking the pressure off hospital wards. “If I [had coronavirus and] had a doctor visit me at home and he ascertained that I wasn’t about to [deteriorate sharply], and he gave me an oxygen ventilation system, then I would much rather remain at home and not go into hospital,” Barbash said. “The haredim have set up an improvised system of their own, and when I look at it, I wonder what would happen if the public health clinics could set up something similar, with patients only being taken to hospital if they deteriorate. I think it’s quite possible that those with oxygen levels between 89% and 93% would receive better treatment at home, and they would also not be contributing to hospital overcrowding. We really should be funding doctors and nurses to make house calls,” he added, in order to make community care more feasible. Professor Barbash also noted the disparity in costs if home treatment was a more viable option. “Treatment at home costs, let’s say, around a thousand shekels a day. But it costs four thousand shekels a day to treat a patient in hospital. And people are being dumped in wards like zombies. The staff keep their distance and the patients are isolated from their families and all they see are masks. I think we should be asking ourselves all these questions.” |
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Israel’s Sheba Medical Center Develops Telemedicine to Limit Coronavirus Spreadby JNS.org 12February2020-https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/12/israels-sheba-medical-center-develops-telemedicine-to-limit-coronavirus-spread/  The Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. JNS.org – As fears of the growing coronavirus endemic increase worldwide, Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, has developed a groundbreaking way to treat potential patients without risking the health of hospital staff and other patients. Using a Vici telemedicine system, designed by virtual health-care company Intouch Health, the robot-like apparatus can be controlled by doctors and nurses to enter the infected patient’s room and even monitor the patient’s vital signs, such as heart rate. “This is one way to use telemedicine to protect our staff,” said Dr. Galia Barkai, head of Telemedicine Services at Sheba Medical Center. “By minimizing direct contact between the patients and medical personnel, we reduce the percentage risk of health-care staff contracting the virus.” While coronavirus has not yet spread to Israel, Sheba is also prepared with a number of isolation rooms in case multiple patients are infected at the same time in an effort to protect staff and other patients from risk of infection. “Although we don’t have any positive patients in Israel, we are always dealing with suspected patients and preparing for the worst-case scenario,” said Barkai. “So, we are creating all these systems to help us deal with the occasion when we might have to deal with many patients.” Sheba will also use the telemedicine application Datos to help treat coronavirus patients who are not as critically ill. This application allows medical professionals to monitor patients from the comfort and isolation of their own homes. “We would give them our telemedicine application and communicate with them via video at least twice a day,” she said. “This would allow them to stay more comfortably in their homes and reduce risk within the hospital.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring the outbreak of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, and that continues to expand. Chinese health officials have reported tens of thousands of infections, with reports of more than 1,000 deaths in mainland China having been caused by the respiratory ailment. At a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday, Dr. Michael J. Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO), said “one clinical trial is already on the way” in China in an attempt to find a cure to the novel coronavirus. He adding that WHO was working with Chinese authorities to implement further clinical trials. |
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Dear millennials (and Gen Z too): You’re also likely to be seriously infected by the coronavirus, says new report19March2020 by: Franz Walker https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-03-19-dear-millennials-youre-likely-to-be-seriously-infected-by-coronavirus.html (Natural News) Most reports about COVID-19 focused on how the elderly were at greater risk from the virus. However, new reports are indicating that younger age groups, such as millennials and Gen Z, are vulnerable as well. During the White House daily briefing on the pandemic, U.S. coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx expressed concern that there would be a disproportionate number of infections among younger generations. This came after reports had arrived from Europe that indicated that some members of these age groups are getting seriously from the disease. “There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill, and very seriously ill, in the ICU,” said Birx. Not just the elderly at riskSo far, the majority of deaths from COVID-19 have been from the elderly as well as those underlying health conditions. As such, health officials worldwide have put more focus on the risks that the outbreak poses to these people, than to younger ones like millennials and Gen Z. This seems to have given the latter generations a false sense of security, making them pay less heed to calls to avoid public gatherings and observe social distancing. “We think part of this may be that people heeded the early data coming out of China and coming out of South Korea about the elderly or those with pre-existing medical conditions were at particular risk,” stated Birx. President Donald Trump also weighed in with his own message for young people, some of whom believe that the dangers of the coronavirus have been overblown. He called on younger generations to avoid large gatherings not just to protect themselves, but to protect their loved ones as well. “I don’t know if you felt invincible when you were very young, but they were feeling totally invincible, or are feeling that way, but they don’t realize that they could be carrying lots of bad things home to grandmother and grandfather and even their parents. So, we want them to heed the advice,” stated the president. The calls for caution come as thousands of American college students refuse to let the COVID-19 outbreak get in the way of spring break. The annual break traditionally sees American college students going to beaches in Florida and even Mexico. Deaths among the young are still lowDespite the calls for caution, Birx reassured Americans that there have not been significant numbers of deaths among young people. “We have not seen any significant mortality in the children,” said Birx. “But we are concerned about the early reports coming out of Italy and France. So again, I’m going to call on that generation … not only calling on you to heed what’s in the guidance, but to really ensure that each and every one of you are protecting each other.” Younger generations tend to “stare down” problemsThe reasons younger generations may be continuing to go out, ignoring calls for social distancing may be more than just from early reports stating that the elderly were more at risk. These younger generations’ nonchalant attitude towards the outbreak may also be down to psychology. “Every generation will react differently [to COVID-19] based on the experiences that generation has had,” stated Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO of the nonprofit Mental Health America (MHA). Gionfriddo says that these younger generations tend to “stare down” problems as coping or survival mechanism. This, he says, could be why millennials continue to go out to bars and restaurants despite the threat of the disease. Studies have already suggested that millennials are actually more stressed than other generations, giving them the nickname “the worry generation.” Meanwhile, a 2018 survey by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) shows that Gen Z are more likely to report poor mental health than other generations. “When you tack on something like [COVID-19], you’re basically not going to see as dramatic a change in their outlook, because the generation is already so stressed,” stated Gionfriddo. That said, Gionfriddo stated that it’s important that everyone, regardless of their age, understand that the threat of COVID-19 is real and should be taken seriously. Sources include: |
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Iceland study identifies coronavirus mutations, says people may be infected by multiple waves of variants27March2020 by: Evangelyn Rodriguez https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-03-27-coronavirus-mutations-multiple-infections.html (Natural News) Genetic sequencing of swabs from nearly 10,000 people in Iceland, where 648 cases have been reported as of Tuesday, has revealed 40 different mutations in the novel coronavirus. Sequencing results also revealed that a person may be infected by two variants of the virus. Researchers at deCODE genetics, a private biopharmaceutical company based in Reykjavik, have been assisting local health authorities in conducting tests for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. But they were also performing genetic analyses of collected samples in hopes of understanding how the virus spread in the small Icelandic community. Iceland’s population exceeds 364,000 by only a small margin. Speaking to Danish news outlet Dagbladet Information, Kari Stefansson, the CEO of deCODE genetics, said that the mutations were specific to their countries of origin. Hence they served as genetic signatures, which allowed the researchers to trace the infection back to three groups: Icelanders who were infected in Italy, in Austria, and in the United Kingdom. “We have the genes from more than 400 infections. The interesting thing about that sequencing is that we can track where the virus came from. Some came from Austria. There is another type from people who were infected in Italy. And there is a third type of virus found in people infected in England. Seven people had attended a football match in England,” Stefansson shared. Infection by more than one variant of the novel coronavirus is possibleThe samples used for the sequencing project came from 9,768 people, who were either confirmed to be infected, showing symptoms of illness or living in high-risk areas. Since the first coronavirus case in Iceland was announced on February 28, health officials have reported two deaths — a 70-year-old woman, who was considered the first Icelandic casualty, and an Australian tourist, whose death has been linked to COVID-19 by preliminary autopsy. Researchers at deCODE genetics also collected samples from an additional 5,571 volunteers, who neither had any symptoms nor were at risk of COVID-19 at the time of testing. Of the more than 5,000 samples, 48 returned with positive results. But these people, the researchers noted, showed no symptoms of any kind. On the other hand, genetic analyses of the nearly 10,000 samples revealed 40 location-specific mutations that linked them genetically to coronavirus infections in other countries. The researchers also found evidence of a single person being infected by two variants of the novel coronavirus. While one variant had already undergone mutation, the other was genetically the same as before the mutation occurred. According to Stefansson, the only infections that could be traced to the doubly-infected individual were those caused by the mutated virus. A silver lining due to nature and mutationsThe discovery in Iceland may be new, but it was not the first report to emerge of the coronavirus mutating. Allan Randrup Thomsen, a virologist and professor at the University of Copenhagen, was not surprised by the finding, as the novel coronavirus, he says, is known to mutate “reasonably violently.” “We have seen reports of variants from China already. In that way, it fits well with what one expects,” he told Dagbladet Information. On March 03, a study published in the journal National Science Review reported how mutations and natural selection led to the development of a more aggressive variant of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in China. According to the researchers behind the study, this variant, which they dubbed the L type, was able to spread more quickly and replicate at a faster rate than the original S type. Genetic analyses of samples from infected patients in Wuhan also showed that during the early stages of the outbreak, the L type was more prevalent than the S type. However, the L type’s frequency decreased after early January due to “severe selective pressure” placed by human medical intervention. Hence the older and less-aggressive S type eventually became the more predominant type of SARS-CoV-2. Thomsen expects a slightly similar thing to occur around the world. The novel coronavirus, he said, is behaving by the book; and at the rate it is mutating, he predicts it will evolve into a more contagious but less pathogenic version of itself. (Related: Asia braces for new wave of coronavirus infections, more countries to see spikes in caseloads.) “It’s similar to the pattern we see with the flu, and we can live with that. I’m not saying that this is how all variants get, but there is a tendency for it to develop that way. This means that viruses can infect more because it is better adapted, but it is not the disease-causing virus variants that survive. These are the variants that cause less disease,” he explained. Dr. Derek Gatherer, an infectious disease specialist at Lancaster University in the U.K., echoed Thomsen’s sentiments. He, too, believes that the virus will become more contagious but won’t cause severe symptoms, as the variants responsible for those may die out. However, Gatherer said that this may take a couple of years to occur. Sources include: |
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Ibuprofen exacerbates coronavirus
 Olivier Veran-tweet-14March2020 – Taking anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, cortisone, …) could be an aggravating factor of the infection
DO NOT Take Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Naproxan, Diclofenac, Advil, Motrin Or Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs Corticosteroids include prednisone, cortisone, and methylprednisolone.
Ibuprofen exacerbates coronavirus diseaseWorld Health Organization recommends using paracetamol to treat coronavirus symptoms, instead of anti-inflammatories. Here’s why.Mordechai Sones, 18March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277457 The World Health Organization has recommended that people suffering from the symptoms of the virus avoid taking ibuprofen drugs such as Advil. Instead, the organization suggests taking paracetamol, such as Acamol (Tylenol). They studied why the disease pathway in Italy is more serious, finding that most patients took ibuprofen at home. Researchers joined the virus and ibuprofen in the laboratory and came to the conclusion that administering ibuprofen accelerates multiplication of the virus and is related to a more serious course of the disease. They recommend to avoid ibuprofen and to administer paracetamol, aspirin, diclofenac. Consultant Pediatrician in London John Greenwood was quoted as saying: “We have just been sent a medical alert that no one is to use anti-inflammatories (e.g. Ibruprofen, Voltarol, naproxen, and others) for pain or high temperature. Use paracetamol instead. There seems to be a link between severe cases of COVID-19 affecting young people with no underlying illnesses and taking anti-inflammatories. Initial reports started coming from French doctors on Friday. This has been confirmed by infectious diseases consultants here – there are four young people in ICU in Cork who have no underlying illnesses – all were taking anti-inflammatories and there are concerns this has caused a more severe illness.” A Lancet article entitled Are patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus at increased risk for COVID-19 infection? says: “Human pathogenic coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus [SARS-CoV] and SARS-CoV-2) bind to their target cells through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is expressed by epithelial cells of the lung, intestine, kidney, and blood vessels.” “The expression of ACE2 is substantially increased in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, who are treated with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II type-I receptor blockers (ARBs). Hypertension is also treated with ACE inhibitors and ARBs, which results in an upregulation of ACE2.5 ACE2 can also be increased by thiazolidinediones and ibuprofen. Suggest that ACE2 expression is increased in diabetes and treatment with ACE inhibitors and ARBs increases ACE2 expression. Consequently, the increased expression of ACE2 would facilitate infection with COVID-19. “We therefore hypothesize that diabetes and hypertension treatment with ACE2-stimulating drugs increases the risk of developing severe and fatal COVID-19.” Important French announcementDr. John Campbell • 16March2020 |
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Reducing fever, good or badDr. John Campbell • 17March2020 |
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Reducing fever, Part 2Dr. John Campbell • 19March2020 |
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Authoritarianism In The Age Of Pseudoscienceby Tyler Durden 09May2020 https://www.zerohedge.com/health/authoritarianism-age-pseudoscience Authored by Colin Todhunter via Off-Guardian.org, Following the court decision in the US to award in favour of Dewayne Johnson (exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer and its active ingredient, glyphosate, caused Johnson to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma), attorney Robert Kennedy Jr said at the post-trial press conference:
Johnson’s lawyers argued over the course of the month-long trial in 2018 that Monsanto had “fought science” for years and targeted academics who spoke up about possible health risks of the herbicide product.
 Monsanto Roundup sign near crops
Long before the Johnson case, critics of Monsanto were already aware of the practices the company had engaged in for decades to undermine science. At the same time, Monsanto and its lobbyists had called anyone who questioned the company’s ‘science’ as engaging in pseudoscience and labelled them ‘anti-science’. We need look no further than the current coronavirus issue to understand how vested interests are set to profit by spinning the crisis a certain way and how questionable science is again being used to pursue policies that are essentially ‘unscientific’ – governments, the police and the corporate media have become the arbiters of ‘truth’. Health Ranger DECLARES: End the LOCKDOWNS; launch the TAKEDOWNSHealth Ranger Report 07May2020
 What directions to go with science We also see anyone challenging the policies and the ‘science’ being censored on social media or not being given a platform on TV and accused of engaging in ‘misinformation’. It’s the same old playbook. The case-fatality ratio for COVID-19 is so low as to make the lockdown response wholly disproportionate. Yet we are asked to blindly accept government narratives and the policies based on them. Making an entire country go home and stay home has immense, incalculable costs in terms of well-being and livelihoods. This itself has created a pervasive sense of panic and crisis and is largely a result of the measures taken against the ‘pandemic’ and not of the virus itself. Certain epidemiologists have said there is very little sturdy evidence to base lockdown policies on, but this has not prevented politicians from acting as if everything they say or do is based on solid science. The lockdown would not be merited if we were to genuinely adopt a knowledge-based approach. If we look at early projections by Neil Ferguson of Imperial College in the UK, he had grossly overstated the number of possible deaths resulting from the coronavirus and has now backtracked substantially. Ferguson has a chequered track record, which led UK newspaper The Telegraph to run a piece entitled ‘How accurate was the science that led to lockdown?’ The article outlines Ferguson’s previous flawed predictions about infectious diseases and a number of experts raise serious questions about the modelling that led to lockdown in the UK. Ferguson’s previous modelling for the spread of epidemics was so off the mark that it may beggar believe that anyone could have faith in anything he says, yet he remains part of the UK government’s scientific advisory group. Officials are now talking of ‘easing’ lockdowns, but Ferguson warns that lockdown in the UK will only be lifted once a vaccine for COVID-19 has been found. It raises the question: when will Ferguson be held to account for his current and previously flawed work and his exaggerated predictions? Because, on the basis of his modelling, the UK has been in lockdown for many weeks, the results of which are taking a toll on the livelihoods and well-being of the population which are and will continue to far outweigh the effects of COVID-19. According to a 1982 academic study, a 1% increase in the unemployment rate will be associated with 37,000 deaths [including 20,000 heart attacks, 920 suicides, 650 homicides], 4,000 state mental hospital admissions and 3,300 state prison admissions. Consider that by 30 April, in the US alone, 30 million had filed for unemployment benefit since the lockdown began. Between 23 and 30 April, some 3.8 million filed for unemployment benefit. Prior to the current crisis, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. Some predict it could eventually reach 30%. Ferguson – whose model was the basis for policies elsewhere in addition to the UK – is as much to blame as anyone for the current situation. And it is a situation that has been fuelled by a government and media promoted fear narrative that has had members of the public so afraid of the virus that many have been demanding further restrictions of their liberty by the state in order to ‘save’ them. Even with the promise of easing the lockdown, people seem to be fearful of venturing out in the near future thanks to the fear campaign they have been subjected to. Instead of encouraging more diverse, informed and objective opinions in the mainstream, we too often see money and power forcing the issue, not least in the form of Bill Gates who tells the world ‘normality’ may not return for another 18 months – until he and his close associates in the pharmaceuticals industry find a vaccine and we are all vaccinated. In the UK, the population is constantly subjected via their TV screens to clap for NHS workers, support the NHS and to stay home and save lives on the basis of questionable data and policies. Emotive stuff taking place under a ruling Conservative Party that has cut thousands of hospital beds, frozen staff pay, placed workers on zero-hour contracts and demonised junior doctors. It is also using the current crisis to accelerate the privatisation of state health care. In recent weeks, ministers have used special powers to bypass normal tendering and award a string of contracts to private companies and management consultants without open competition. But if cheap propaganda stunts do not secure the compliance, open threats will suffice. For instance, in the US, city mayors and local politicians have threatened to ‘hunt down’, monitor social media and jail those who break lockdown rules. Prominent conservative commentator Tucker Carlson asks who gave these people the authority to tear up the US constitution; what gives them the right to threaten voters while they themselves or their families have been exposed as having little regard for lockdown norms. As overhead drones bark out orders to residents, Carlson wonders how the US – almost overnight – transformed into a totalitarian state. With a compliant media failing to hold tyrannical officials to account, Carlson’s concerns mirror those of Lionel Shriver in the UK, writing in The Spectator, who declares that the supine capitulation of Britain to a de facto police state has been one of the most depressing spectacles he has ever witnessed. Under the pretext of tracking and tracing the spread of the virus, the UK government is rolling out an app which will let the likes of Apple and Google monitor a person’s every location visited and every physical contact. There seems to be little oversight in terms of privacy. The contact-tracing app has opted for a centralised model of data collection: all the contact-tracing data is not to be deleted but anonymized and kept under one roof in one central government database for ‘research purposes’. We may think back to Cambridge Analytica’s harvesting of Facebook data to appreciate the potential for data misuse. But privacy is the least concern for governments and the global tech giants in an age where ‘data’ has become monetized as a saleable commodity, with the UK data market the second biggest in the world and valued at over a billion pounds in 2018. Paranoia is usually the ever-present bedfellow of fear and many people have been very keen to inform the authorities that their neighbours may have been breaking social distancing rules. Moreover, although any such opinion poll cannot be taken at face value and could be regarded as part of the mainstream fear narrative itself, a recent survey suggests that only 20% of Britons are in favour of reopening restaurants, schools, pubs and stadiums. Is this to be the new ‘normal’, whereby fear, mistrust, division and suspicion are internalized throughout society? In an age of fear and paranoia, are we all to be ‘contact traced’ and regarded by others as a ‘risk’ until we prove ourselves by wearing face masks and by voluntarily subjecting ourselves to virus tests at the entrances to stores or in airports? And if we refuse or test positive, are we to be shamed, isolated and forced to comply by being ‘medicated’ (vaccinated and chipped)? Is this the type of world that’s soon to be regarded as ‘normal’? A world in which liberty and fundamental rights mean nothing. A world dominated by shaming and spurious notions of personal responsibility that are little more than ideological constructs of a hegemonic narrative which labels rational thinking people as ‘anti-science’ – a world in which the scourge of authoritarianism reigns supreme. * * * As this article was going to press, it was announced that Neil Ferguson is resigning from his role as science advisor to Boris Johnson’s government, in the wake of the allegations he has broken the lockdown rules he himself recommended in order to meet his girlfriend . |
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Israel Joins Alliance of Countries that Beat the CoronavirusBy David Israel – 10 Iyyar 5780 – 04May2020 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/israel-joins-alliance-of-countries-that-beat-the-coronavirus/2020/05/04/  Security guard checks the temperature of customers at the entrance to the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, May 04, 2020. Israel is joining a new initiative led by Austria that brings together small countries that have basically defeated the coronavirus epidemic. These countries aim to open their borders in order to save the tourism industry and revive their economies. The first meeting of the Alliance of Immunized Countries was held online last week and brought together Denmark, Greece, the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Israel. And the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz is promoting an idea that includes the opening of borders between safe states in the near future. It will begin with allowing tourism and tourism trade to come back from its suspended animation, Kurtz told Austrian media, following a meeting with several world leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Our countries have responded quickly to the pandemic, and we are now in better shape.” The states in question are in agreement that, in the context of opening their borders, they would take effective measures against the spread of the coronavirus, such as the obligation to wear masks, as well as the establishment of a quick and simple testing protocol. Israel has been in the forefront of these efforts, as the MDA in collaboration with the IDF have come up with a mobile testing unit that is easy to assemble, can be relocated quickly on a truck bed, and is perfectly safe for the testing staff.  MDA mobile unit for coronavirus samples / Gil Cohen, MDA It has also been reported that common hygiene measures would be agreed on between the states, such as the requirement to wear masks during flights, and even the possibility of rapid blood tests to detect the virus onboard flights. The bloc is already working on a roadmap to open its international borders to its member states, according to the WSJ, affirming that certain countries could receive tourists from member countries in the coming weeks. The deal contradicts the very idea of the European Union’s 1985 Schengen Agreement, which led to the creation of Europe’s Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. Should Austria establish a selective reopening of its borders, preferring Israel over, say, Italy, where the pandemic is still killing tens of thousands, it would upset the remaining members of the 27-country EU. Which is why they are currently opposed to the Israeli-European initiative. Germany, which has so far been relatively successful in containing the coronavirus epidemic, has announced that it does not wish to participate in the Kurtz forum, should it be invited. Chancellor Kurtz has been interviewed on German media in recent weeks, and said he planns to open the Austrian border to German tourism, but on Sunday, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced that “it is too early to discuss the issue.” Germany has announced that it would maintain its closed borders through mid-June. Austria’s economy has taken a harsh beating from the early closing of ski season, and is now hoping to capitalize on summer tourism in the Austrian Alps. Next on the Chancellor’s sights are Australia and Singapore. The exclusive club’s leaders have agreed to continue meeting online every two weeks. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen congratulated the Austrian initiative, and said she accepts that “the EU is a very important framework, but I think this global alliance is very attractive because it brings together countries from around the world around the discussion table.” And it keeps out countries where the pandemic is still very much alive and kicking. |
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‘Without agriculture, Israel has no independence’President Rivlin visits Gaza area and meets with local farmers dealing with the consequences of the coronavirus.Arutz Sheva Staff , 13May2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280189  President Reuven Rivlin in Wheat Field Gaza vicinity President Reuven Rivlin today, Wednesday, visited the farmers of the area around Gaza. The president began his visit at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha with local farmers who are dealing with a new reality created by the coronavirus pandemic, and continued his visit to the Hinoman factory, which produces Mankai duckweed, at Kibbutz Be’eri. Before he left, he began the wheat harvesting season in the fields of Kibbutz Sa’ad. The president’s first stop was at the corn and sunflower seeds next to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, where he heard about the agricultural produce of the area around Gaza and the recent problems. The president was accompanied on his visit by head of the Eshkol Regional Council Gadi Yarkoni and farmers Dan Weizman from Ein Habsor, Lior Katri from Moshav Ohad, Galil Nachum from Moshav Mivtachim, Yohanan Kopler from Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, Yedidia Hochman from Moshav Bnei Netzarim, Orna Eisenstein from Kibbutz Magen and Shmuel Blaberman from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. Currently, the agricultural produce from Eshkol Regional council represents about 60% of demand from the domestic market in Israel. In the area around Gaza, which the president referred to as ‘surrounding Israel’, typical Israeli fruit and vegetables are grown: cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants, lettuce, herbs, cabbage, watermelon, melons, pineapple, strawberries, avocado and more. Speaking to the farmers, the president said, “Coronavirus has opened our eyes to things that were once taken for granted, and we simply forgot them. For example, the importance of the foundations of this country, one of which is agriculture. The phrase ‘buy blue and white’ had some importance, and we knew that we could always take best care of ourselves and we were proud of it. Over time, market forces and economic issues have led the way, but these days remind us of the fundamentals. Israel’s independence is the most important thing, and without agriculture, Israel has no independence. From here I ask you, Israeli citizens, buy blue and white. Buy Israeli produce. Buy the wonderful produce here.” The president continued his visit to the agrifood-tech Hinoman company at the greenhouses of Kibbutz Be’eri, where he was shown Mankai duckweed, a green leafy vegetable dubbed ‘the future of food’ after eight years of research and international investment. Mankai is grown in the largest greenhouse pools of their kind in the world, using a growing environment controlled by sensors, a computerized system and a secret fertilizer formula. This is a new kind of agriculture, needing no earth, using minimal quantities of water and lighting and without human workers. Mankai contains protein identical in profile to that found in eggs, a high level of iron and an ideal quantity of Omega-3, dietary fiber and vitamins to help strengthen the immune system. They have all been scientifically proven to be digestible by humans. CEO of Hinoman Ron Salpeter explained “this green super-vegetable is perfectly nutritious and produced by unique technology that we developed in a way to ensure consistency and positive impact on physical performance. Leading research institutes around the world see Mankai as an opportunity for a real revolution in the quality of food and a contribution to physical resilience. We have all seen recently how much we rely on our immune system to deal with the corona pandemic. The idea of eating what we are used to, but in a way that is healthier, is a true revolution.” At the end of his visit to the Gaza area, the president began the wheat harvest season in the fields of Kibbutz Sa’ad, accompanied by the field manager Chaim Landsman and wheat grower Yehuda Nir. Yehuda drove the combine harvester with the president sitting in the cab, and together they began harvesting this season’s wheat with hopes of bumper yields and security. Head of Eshkol Regional Council Gadi Yarkoni: “We are so excited to welcome the president to our fields and to begin the harvest with him. During these months, with the coronavirus pandemic breaking out, the State of Israel has been given a serious reminder of the importance of Israeli agriculture for the resilience and food security of its people. We have been blessed with a president who is connected to agriculture, who appreciates and knows Israeli farming, who gives us the strength to continue, despite the challenges.” |
Some Israeli clinics said to start using new, quick ultrasound coronavirus testMaccabi HMO reported to operate test that rapidly helps discover asymptomatic patients, first in COVID-19 hotspots and soon throughout the countryBy TOI staff 14 May 2020 https://www.timesofisrael.com/some-israeli-clinics-said-to-start-using-new-ultrasound-coronavirus-test/ |
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 Star Trek Medical Tricorder old and new tech |
 Portable Digital Ultrasound Machine Scanner System Star Trek Medical Tricorders May be invented in Israel |
| An Israeli health maintenance organization (HMO) has started using a new sort of test to immediately discover coronavirus carriers even if they aren’t experiencing outward symptoms, a report said Thursday.Patients of the Maccabi HMO can now undergo a special ultrasound test that scans their lungs and detects effects typically caused by the respiratory virus, Channel 12 reported, citing Maccabi officials.The officials were quoted as saying the small, portable ultrasound kit called “Focus” had already helped discover several asymptomatic patients, and that several who tested negative were re-diagnosed with COVID-19.
One of them is a special education teacher who had caught the virus but was no longer showing symptoms and was cleared by a testing lab as recovered. Her test, taken out of caution before returning to work, revealed she still had the virus, according to Dr. Eran Shankar, who manages the Bnei Brak clinic. The machine is currently in use only in virus hotspots such as the ultra-Orthodox cities of Bnei Brak and Elad, and will soon be available throughout the country, according to the report. “The test saved the need for x-ray tests and the radiation they entail,” Shankar added. “It also prevents the patient being exposed to other patients and staff members who could get infected.” “This capability allows us to locate the disease, especially in outbreak areas, even in people who seem to be completely healthy,” said Dr. Sharon Hermoni-Alon, head of family medicine at Maccabi. |
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BGU professor develops coronavirus test producing results in one minuteClinical trials done in conjunction with the Defense Ministry on more that 120 Israelis showed better than a 90% success rate in comparison to the more common method.By CELIA JEAN MAY 14, 2020 https://www.jpost.com/health-science/bgu-professor-develops-coronavirus-test-producing-results-in-one-minute-627944 A new method of testing for the coronavirus that produces results in under a minute and has a success rate of 90% has been developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Prof. Gabby Sarusi. In clinical trials done in conjunction with the Defense Ministry on more than 120 Israelis, results showed a success rate greater than 90% in comparison to the more common Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) used in coronavirus testing. “Right from the beginning of the trials, we received statistically significant results in line with our simulations and PCR tests,” explained Sarusi, deputy head for research at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty member of the Electro-Optical Engineering Unit at BGU. Now that the test has been developed, Sarusi is validating the tests. Ongoing trials aim to determine if the test can identify the specific stage someone with the coronavirus may be afflicted with. “We are continuing clinical trials and will compare samples from COVID-19 patients with samples from patients with other diseases to see if we can identify the different stages of the COVID-19 infection,” said Sarusi. The testing method consists of doctors taking a biological sample, such as particles from a breath test or from throat and nose swabs, such as ones already used for current tests. The samples are then placed on a chip with sensors designed specifically for this purpose. The system then analyzes the biological sample and provides an accurate positive/negative result within a minute via a cloud-connected system. The point-of-care device automatically backs up the results into a database that can be shared by authorities, making it easier than ever to track the course of the virus, as well as to triage and treat patients. While other rapid testing methods have been developed and are in use, producing them is costly, limiting their availability. This test is cheaper, making it more easily available. Each test kit would cost between $50 to $100 to produce, far more affordable than current laboratory testing. Current coronavirus test kits are based on amplifying and identifying the viral RNA sequences, and therefore depend on costly reagents and biochemical reactions. Additionally, PCR-based kits take hours, and in many cases days, to yield results, and require logistically complicated shipping and handling of sensitive and infectious biological samples. Sarusi developed his chip within the framework of BGU’s Coronavirus Task Force, which was brought together by BGU president Prof. Daniel Chamovitz in order to utilize the university’s resources to tackle the effects of the coronavirus. |
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 Deaths during 1918 Spanish flu Pandemic [JerusalemCats Comments: This is what we do not want to happen.]
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Jerusalem Mayor: Closure will turn neighborhoods into coronavirus incubatorsJerusalem Mayor warns Health Ministry measures to combat coronavirus in haredi neighborhoods may only worsen situation.Mordechai Sones , 09July2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/283275 Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon sent a letter to Health Ministry Deputy Director Prof. Itamar Grotto, expressing his intention to declare a number of neighborhoods in the city as “red neighborhoods” and impose closure on them. “My unequivocal stance is against the closure,” wrote Leon. “The proposed closure may make the relevant neighborhoods into coronavirus incubators. “It’s important to stress: Unlike other cities, the neighborhoods in Jerusalem are neighborhoods where tens of thousands of people and families blessed with many children live in crowded apartments, with hundreds of people living in each building. Their hermetic closure will lead to mass infection within the community and make matters worse,” he explained. In his letter, Leon suggested “opening dedicated commands to be operated by the Municipality and IDF Home Front Command in those neighborhoods and to immediately evacuate every verified patient from home within 24 hours to prevent further infection.” Later in the letter, Leon referred to the closure of educational institutions and warned that regarding yeshivot gedolot (ages 16-25), “sending tens of thousands of young people home can dramatically increase the disease. At present, there is no way to check the condition of coronavirus patients within the yeshivot and we may send many patients to their homes, where many more families will catch it and cause a huge outbreak in the haredi sector. “Yeshivot ketanot (9th grade): Yeshivot with dorms should continue in the format of the yeshivot gedolot. Yeshivot without boarding should continue with the ‘capsule’ arrangement, and if someone is found infected, the capsule will be closed immediately and the boys will be sent to their homes for isolation. “Talmud Torahs (grades 1-8): Ensure the capsule layout is strictly followed by monitoring symptoms and compliance with Health Ministry instructions and closing any capsule where someone in which a carrier is found.” Leon concluded: “I believe addressing the issue must be systemic, including taking into account the best options for preventing infection and spreading coronavirus. A closure without such solutions will achieve the opposite goal. I urge all government agencies to accelerate prevention activities, including hotels to isolate carriers.” |
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‘It’s not over’: Top MDA medic warns Israelis won’t heed rules in 2nd virus waveEmergency service medical director says that though the state won the battle, it lost support for the wider war by overburdening the public with restrictionsBy Nathan Jeffay 13 May 2020 https://www.timesofisrael.com/its-not-over-top-medic-warns-israelis-wont-heed-rules-in-2nd-virus-wave/ Israelis won’t comply with rules like “good children” during any future coronavirus spikes because restrictions were too extreme this time around, the Magen David Adom emergency service’s medical director has claimed. Refael Strugo told The Times of Israel that there is a premature feeling of victory against the pandemic, for which he blames the state. “It’s not over,” he said. “It’s the wrong feeling. And I think it’s wrong because of the way the government handled it with the public. The state never told the public it’s going to be a marathon, but rather, like a [short] run.” Strugo was one of the central figures in Israel’s coronavirus fight for more than two months, as MDA was responsible for testing, home hospitalization of patients and several other key roles. It fulfilled these functions as Israel’s emergency service during the thick of the crisis, and has been increasingly transferring them to health maintenance organizations in recent weeks. Health Ministry officials have warned repeatedly that they anticipate a second wave, but Strugo believes that due to their policies to date the public won’t step up to the challenge again. “Because we handled the first wave very early and roughly, I believe we’re going to have a problem with the second wave,” Strugo said, stressing that he thinks a second wave is almost inevitable. “I don’t think the public will listen in the way it did with the first wave.” He said that in a future outbreak, public cooperation will again be important to ensure that cases don’t spread quickly and health services can avoid a sharp curve. But he said that after the “harsh” measures used until now, “people won’t act like ‘good children’ as they did in the first wave.” Strugo commented: “I don’t think the health system will have enough time to prepare for the second wave without the public on our side. And the public is not going to be on our side as it was with the first wave. People say the number of dead isn’t more than from a winter influenza, but with an enormous price from society, and other health prices with people not having cardio appointments, not doing sport [exercise] etc.” He said that Israel “fought well against corona[virus] but paid a very large price in other areas of our life,” which leaves him pessimistic about public cooperation in the future. Israel implemented strict regulations, punishable by fines, to fight coronavirus. Israeli schools and universities were closed on March 12, soon followed by most workplaces, and Israelis were ordered to stay close to their homes for weeks. Restrictions have now been eased, with workplaces and stores reopened, and schools operating again, albeit not for all age groups. Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov has insisted that his hard-line approach was necessary and without it, Israel could have ended up like Belgium, which has a population slightly larger than Israel’s and a death toll of more than 8,700. Israel’s current death count is 258.
But Strugo thanks that similar results could have been achieved with “less extreme steps,” and said the government should have been “more selective” in terms of the tools it used. He said it would have been better had the government “not used quarantine all over the country but in ‘red’ areas, and used it for elderly and high risk but not the whole population, and let go early.” Broadly speaking, the government’s approach was right, he said, but “too strong and too harsh, and I fear we’re going to pay for this during a second wave.” |
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…And the results are…DEADLY PROTESTS AND PARTIES! Better to Cry out to Hashem then protest in the Streets.
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70% of coronavirus cases in Israel started in the US – new study“There was this gap in policy and this gap allowed people to return from the US who thought that they could go wherever they wanted, so they probably spread the virus that way.”By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN 18May2020 https://www.jpost.com/health-science/70-percent-of-coronavirus-in-israel-came-from-the-united-states-new-study-628448  Dr. Adi Stern (photo credit: TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY) More than 70% of coronavirus ppatients in Israel were infected by a strain that originated in the United States, according to a new study published Monday by Tel Aviv University.“Those who returned from the US created transmission chains,” Dr. Adi Stern of the School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology at TAU’s George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, told The Jerusalem Post. Flights from Europe and other parts of the world began to be halted between February 26 and March 4 – but not from the US. Only beginning on March 9 did Israel block its borders to anyone who came from abroad who couldn’t complete 14 days of quarantine in Israel. “There was this gap in policy, and this gap allowed people to return from the US who thought that they could go wherever they wanted, so they probably spread the virus that way,” Stern said. The Health Ministry began considering adding American states to the list of places from which travelers were required to quarantine as early as March 5, but it was only after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a conference call with US Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday, May 8 that he decided to close the country’s borders to all countries, including the US. “We take action as we understand it to be necessary,” the prime minister confirmed at the time, “and everyone accepts it – obviously the United States, too.” The remaining nearly 30% of infections in Israel were imported from Europe and elsewhere: Belgium (8%), France (6%), England (5%), Spain (3%), and 2% each from Italy, the Philippines, Australia and Russia. STERN SAID that all of the coronavirus in the country originated from abroad. In the beginning, this included many cases that entered Israel via Europe and Southeast Asia. However, “they did not spread so much: They quarantined early – and very effectively.” To reach this conclusion, Stern and a team of other researchers mapped the spread of the virus into and within Israel by decoding the genomic sequence of the coronavirus strain in Israel. A release explained that the scientists harnessed their genomic map to pinpoint mutations indicating from where the virus originated within Israel – and later, to where it spread. “The novel coronavirus is characterized by mutations that occur at a set pace,” she explained. “These mutations do not affect the virus,” but they “can help us trace the chain of infection from country to country. After the pandemic broke out in Wuhan, for example, one or two mutations occurred, and one virus with a mutation may have migrated to Europe where it experienced additional mutations, and from there it traveled to the United States, and so on. “We can look at these mutations as a kind of bar code that helps us keep track of the progression and transformation of the coronavirus as it moves from country to country,” she continued. The researchers compared the genomic sequences of local patients to some 4,700 genomic sequences taken from patients around the world. Until now, any assessment of the spread of infection relied on such subjective parameters as patient feedback. STERN NOTED that another important finding is that “we very clearly see a reduction in transmission as of March 20, which is when the lockdown was implemented in Israel – which means the social distancing measures worked… The lockdown saved lives.” Stern believes that no more than 1% of the Israeli population contracted the virus – “a far cry from herd immunity.” Data from the novel statistical model may be used to reveal the rate of infection in specific locations, including homes, apartment buildings, schools or even neighborhoods, and could also help inform closure and quarantine policies in the future. “This technology and the information it provides is of great importance for understanding the virus and its spread in the population, as a scientific and objective basis for local and national decision-making,” Stern said. “Going forward, the data obtained from genomic sequencing will serve as an important basis for informed decisions about which institutions to close, for what amount of time, and in which format.” She said that closing borders and social distancing are two obvious and very important measures that would need to be implemented in any future spike. However, “we have developed tools that will allow us to cope, in real time, with the next outbreak that may occur.” The study will be published in medRxiv.org. Stern’s team partnered with scientists at Emory University; Gertner Institute; Sheba Medical Center; the Holon Institute of Technology; Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital; Hadassah Medical Center, Ein Kerem; Soroka Medical Center; Barzilai Medical Center; Baruch Padeh Medical Center; and the Genome Center at the Technion Institute of Technology. |
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Eating a plant-based diet can help protect against COVID-19, researchers find01August2021 by: Divina Ramirez https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-08-01-plant-based-diet-protects-against-covid-19.html
 Veggies Vegetables Nutrition Healthy Diet Greens
(Natural News) People who eat a plant-based diet are less likely to contract COVID-19 and become severely ill with the disease, according to a recent study by researchers from Harvard Medical School, King’s College London and the health science company ZOE. The researchers analyzed data from over 590,000 people from the United States and the United Kingdom who answered a survey about the foods they ate last February using the ZOE COVID Symptom Study application. The application allows users to record their symptoms in case of COVID-19 infection and to log when they’ve had a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. By early December 2020, 19 percent of the users who participated contracted COVID-19 based on positive PCR test results and symptoms reported via the application. “For the first time, we’ve been able to show that a healthier diet can cut the chances of developing [COVID-19],” said co-author Sarah Berry, a senior lecturer in nutritional sciences at King’s College London. A preprint of the study was released online in medRxiv. Eat more plant-based foods to avoid COVID-19Poor metabolic health and certain lifestyle factors are associated with an increased risk and severity of COVID-19, but data for diets are lacking. For their study, the researchers sought to analyze the association of diet quality with the risk and severity of COVID-19 and how that intersects with socioeconomic factors. To that end, the researchers examined data from 592,571 users of the ZOE COVID Symptom Study application from the U.S. and the U.K. The users completed a survey about the foods they ate in February 2020. The researchers scored users’ diet quality based on a scale that emphasized healthy, plant-based foods. The users were followed until December 2020 and asked to log if they had contracted COVID-19 or were hospitalized because of it. Diets with high quality scores were found to contain more plant-based foods, especially fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains. On average, people with high-scoring diets ate two pieces of fruit and three different vegetables per day. They also ate 200 grams (g) of fatty fish every week and limited their intake of refined grains and processed foods. People who eat plant-based foods have healthy microbes in their guts, said Tim Spector, a co-author of the study and a co-founder of ZOE. Having healthy gut microbes has been linked to better health. On the other hand, low-scoring diets were found to contain more processed foods. On average, users with low-scoring diets ate fewer than two pieces of fruit per week and went some days without eating any vegetable or oily fish. In addition, the researchers found that there were 72 cases of COVID-19 for every 10,000 person-months among users with high-scoring diets. Meanwhile, there were 95 cases of COVID-19 for every 10,000 person-months among users with low-scoring diets. Overall, the researchers found that users with high-scoring diets were 10 percent less likely to contract COVID-19 and 40 percent less likely to become severely ill with the disease than users with low-scoring diets. They estimated that nearly a quarter of users who became infected with COVID-19 could have avoided the disease if they ate a healthier diet. They also noted that users living in areas where plant-based foods were less available may face a greater risk of COVID-19 infection than users with easier access to those foods. How to get started on a plant-based dietThere is no need to go vegan to reap the health benefits of eating plant-based foods. Many healthy plant-based diets, such as the Mediterranean diet, still allow meats and animal products to a certain degree. However, you’re encouraged to limit your intake of those foods as much as possible. If you want to get started on a plant-based diet, keep the following tips in mind:
Fresh.news has more articles on the health benefits of eating plant-based foods. Sources include:
How eating your five-a-day may spare you from Covid: People who consume plenty of fruit and vegetables and cut out processed foods ‘are up to 40% less likely to fall severely ill with virus’
By Luke Andrews Health Reporter For Mailonline Published: 13July2021 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9783301/People-eat-three-fruit-vegetables-day-40-likely-fall-severely-ill-virus.html
King’s College London experts asked 600,000 people to log what they were eating before the pandemic began.
Volunteers were divided into five groups based on how healthy their diets were.
They were also tracked for nine months and asked to tell researchers if they caught the coronavirus and log how ill they became.
Results showed those who ate the most greens were 40 per cent less likely to be hospitalised and need oxygen if they were infected.
And they were 10 per cent less likely to catch the virus in the first place.
The researchers defined the healthiest eaters as those who ate two pieces of fruit a day and three different vegetables.
They also had 200g of oily fish such as salmon and sardines every week and kept fatty and sugary processed foods to a minimum.
On the other hand, the unhealthiest eaters had fewer than two bits of fruit over the course of a week and went some days without eating any vegetables.
They also steered clear of oily fish, and consumed more fatty and sugary processed foods than recommended.
Professor Tim Spector, one of the researchers, said there was ‘no need to go vegan’ to reap the benefits of healthy eating.
But he said eating a more plant-laden diet could ‘improve your immune system’ and ‘potentially reduce your risk from Covid’.
Professor Spector said: ‘People who eat higher quality diets (with low levels of ultra-processed foods) have a healthier collection of microbes in their guts, which is linked to better health.’
Study co-author Dr Sarah Berry said: ‘For the first time we’ve been able to show that a healthier diet can cut the chances of developing Covid.’
The study was run through health-tech firm ZOE’s Covid Symptom Study app, which has been downloaded more than a million times.
The software — which allows people to log their symptoms and whether they had a positive test — is used to track the coronavirus outbreak in Britain.
Academics used data from more than 31,000 participants who were thought to have caught Covid across the UK and US.
Only a quarter actually tested positive for the virus — the rest were assumed to have been infected based on the symptoms they showed.
At the start of the pandemic there was a lack of tests available, leading to millions of cases being missed officially.
Participants were asked about what they ate in February last year, before the virus took hold.
They were followed until early December — through the first wave and the start of the second wave — and asked to log if they had the virus, or were hospitalised.
Data showed there were 72.2 cases of Covid for every 10,000 person-months among participants with the healthiest diets.
But for volunteers at the other end of the dietary spectrum, the rate stood at around 95.4.
The difference was even worse for cases of severe illness — defined as patients who were admitted to hospital and required oxygen.
After analysing the results for other potential factors that may have skewed the findings such as sex, ethnicity and underlying health conditions, they found those with the best diets were 40 per cent less likely to suffer severe disease and 10 per cent likely to catch the virus in the first place.
The study, which was published on medRxiv, also involved scientists from Harvard Medical School.
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Time to process the last three years10July2023 https://rivkalevy.com/time-to-process-the-last-three-years/ I am still taking the rest of this week off.But, I wanted to just post up this ‘Timeline’ of key events from the Covid 19 plandemic in Israel, that occurred over the last 3-4 years. Why? Because none of us has really stopped to process what it is we really went through, what was done to us, what really happened.And so, there are still a whole bunch of ‘yucky’ feelings hanging out, deep within, that haven’t yet been acknowledged, dealt with – and released. So, take some time this week to read this, maybe print it out, and just let the ‘feelings’ float up, as they will. In the process of putting it together, I felt tremendous anger, sadness and also not a little despair. That wasn’t so fun – but then, I could at least catch hold of all that, and finally ‘let it go’. That’s the key here. B’hatzlacha. ==== COVID 19 TIMELINE IN ISRAEL – THE KEY EVENTS
We went into ‘coronavirus prison’ a week after the Rav was arrested, and we finally got out a few weeks after he was released. |
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Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency Regulations Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency Regulations
Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency Regulations |
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Coronavirus Informationhttps://www.nbn.org.il/coronavirus-information/ |
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| Coronavirus Information
Israel has begun a gradual return to normalization regarding COVID-19. The following are the most recent instructions published by the Government, as of August 16th, 2020. The Government has just released a new list of guidelines. Some of the ongoing restrictions and instructions are set to a strategic health standard. The reason for this is to minimize contact between people and as such reduce the risk of exposure to a second wave of the COVID-19 virus. Below are a few examples of guidelines you should stick to in order to keep the virus from spreading further. The most recent instructions include the following:
The Justice Ministry has publicized an FAQ regarding the restrictions and fines for disobeying them. Find it here. Below you will find a list of the most frequently asked questions regarding the current regulations and restrictions.If you are looking for information and cannot find it below, please contact us at NBN Answers *3680, or by email Answers@nbn.org.il. Can I make Aliyah at this time? This is one of the most common questions we receive at this time. For an accurate answer, contact your Aliyah advisor as it depends on many factors. The Jewish Agency has announced they will not be issuing Aliyah Visas until July 1st, 2020. Although if you already have your Aliyah Visa, if you have everything else in place you should be able to make Aliyah at this time. You must also consider the regulations regarding Corona hotel quarantine. See the next Question for more info. Can I apply and make Aliyah once the situation is over? While NBN is fully operational and we will be happy to assist you with your Aliyah application, all Jewish Agency for Israel offices are officially closed. All interviews have been cancelled. The Jewish Agency has begun video conference interviews, in order to allow potential Olim to once again move ahead with their plans. Although, Visas are still not being issued at this time at least until July 1st,2020. Updated Corona Virus Rules and RegulationsJune 1, 2021: Green Pass and Purple Bage no longer required Ending the requirement of the Green Pass allows unlimited entry to all venues – people will no longer be required to present a Green Pass or present a negative corona test. Entry will be permitted to anyone, including children and adults who are not vaccinated, in all places that have operated under the green label so far, including hotels, restaurants, event halls, sports stadiums, and more. Ending the Purple Badge removes restrictions on gatherings and events. All venues may operate as usual, with no restrictions on the number of attendees, serving food, or other special conditions. This will also apply to jobs and public transport. April 18, 2021: Masks are no longer required outdoors. March 21, 2021:
Upcoming relaxations of restrictions, to go into effect Sunday February 21st (STAGE 2), including the launch of the “Green Badge” and some of its amenities. The relaxations are as follows:
The following relaxations will go into effect on Sunday, March 7th: (STAGE 3)
Leaving your place of residence:
Employment:
Transportation:
February 10, 2021: Vaccinated People Require Testing before Flights |
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Supervisors to enforce mask-wearing on public transportationTransportation Ministry procures budget to hire 400 supervisors to enforce mask-wearing on public transportation around the country.Hezki Baruch, 29July2021 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310821 Following Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s instruction to supervise the implementation of the coronavirus laws and mask-wearing on public transportation, Israel’s Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor) on Thursday came to an agreement with the Finance Ministry’s Budget Department on the issue of funding for coronavirus supervisors. As part of the agreement, budgetary approval will be passed for the Transportation Ministry to hire 400 supervisors for public transportation. These supervisors will enforce the coronavirus laws, as they did during the previous waves of the pandemic. During the first stage, the budget will be approved for three months. It will be renewed on an as-needed basis, in accordance with future evaluations of the situation. Earlier this month, an expose by Israel Hayom revealed a rise in the number of attacks on bus drivers, fueled by anger when the bus drivers attempt to protect their health and that of their passengers by asking unmasked passengers to follow the guidelines. Koach LaOvdim – Democratic Workers’ Organization, told Israel Hayom: “According to the statistics we have, there has been a 20% rise in violence towards drivers during the coronavirus [pandemic], and the majority of violent instances occurred due to drivers’ insistence that masks be worn.” “A reality in which a requirement to wear masks becomes an excuse for an attack is unacceptable. There must be an increase in activities to raise awareness, as well as in police presence. JerusalemCats Comments: People around the world are revolting against the covid tyranny. |
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Israeli Health Ministry reimposes mask mandate Friday at noon [25June2021]Just days after abolishing mask mandate, Israel reimposes indoor mask requirement.David Rosenberg, 25June2021 9:40 AM https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308714 Just a week and a half after Israel terminated its mask mandate in almost all areas, the Health Ministry announced it is reimposing the requirement to wear face masks in indoor public areas, starting at noon today. As with the previous mask mandate, the requirement will apply to everyone over the age of seven, unless they suffer from a verified medical condition or have a disability which prevents them from wearing a mask. Masks will also not be required during indoor exercise activity, when a person is alone indoors, or when two workers are regularly assigned to work alone in a single room. Along with the requirement to wear masks indoors, the Health Ministry has advised that people attending mass-gatherings also wear masks, even if the gathering is outdoors. The new mask mandate comes following a series of outbreaks of the coronavirus across Israel, including hundreds of cases of the ‘Delta’ or Indian variant of the virus. |
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Obligation to wear masks indoors abolished as of Tuesday [15June2021]Director General of Health Ministry signs order that officially abolishes obligation to wear masks indoors.Ben Ariel, 15June2021 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308093 The Director General of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levi, has signed an order that officially abolishes the obligation to wear masks indoors. Starting Tuesday, it will be mandatory to wear masks only in the following cases: unvaccinated guests and workers in welfare institutions, in health institutions for prolonged hospitalization and institutions for the elderly, people in isolation who are on the way to the place of isolation and people on flights. The Ministry of Education has announced that students, teaching staff and education staff will also be exempt from wearing masks in closed buildings, including classrooms and teachers’ rooms. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that the removal of the coronavirus restrictions in the will be postponed for a month. “We will have built up a very considerable wall of immunity around the whole of the population, and at that stage, on the basis of the evidence that I can see now, I’m confident that we will be able to go forward with the … full opening,” he told a news conference. |
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Israel ends most coronavirus restrictionsLimits on unvaccinated lifted and most COVID restrictions ended as ‘green tag’, ‘purple tag’ rules expire. But indoor mask mandate remains.David Rosenberg , 01June2021 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/307273 Israel on Tuesday lifted most of its COVID restrictions on public activity, following an extended period of low coronavirus infection rates. On Monday, the government approved the lifting of major limits on public activity and business operation, which were set to expire Tuesday. Both the ‘green marker’ (Tav Yarok) and ‘purple marker’ (Tav Sagol) sets of regulations on mass gatherings and business operations were nullified starting Tuesday morning, ending the limits on a wide variety of activities. The end of the ‘green marker’ program means that the unvaccinated – including children who are below the vaccination age – may now be able to freely enter hotels, restaurants, cultural events and other venues without a recent negative COVID test. Businesses restricted by the ‘purple marker’ program will no longer be required to limit the number of customers allowed inside at any given time, and will no longer be required to maintain two meters between customers or between customers. Event halls will now be able to operate freely with no limits on the number of people allowed indoors, regardless of participants’ vaccination status. The indoor mask mandate, however, will remain in place for the time being, though the Health Ministry plans to reevaluate the mandate in the near future. |
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Health Ministry finalizes repeal of mask lawsNew relaxations in mask laws are coming as of Sunday.[18April2021]Arutz Sheva Staff , 17April2021 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/304522 Health Ministry Director General Professor Hezi Levy, has officially amended public health guidelines regarding breath barriers in public spaces. As of April 18, 2021, there will be no need to wear a mask outdoors in a public area. However, the Ministry of Health emphasized in a statement that it nevertheless advises that people continue to wear masks during gatherings, even in open areas. Enclosed public spaces still require facemasks. The Ministry of Health advises that people avoid gatherings and carry proper hygiene equipment on their person at all times in case they should need to enter a public space that requires it. Distancing and additional hygiene precautions are also recommended as a matter of public interest. In addition to the changes to the country’s mask mandate, Israel’s schools will fully reopen on Sunday, without capsules or restrictions on mingling between classes. |
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 covid-19 regulations-Holiday Closure 24Sept2020
No kiddush: Instructions for Simchat TorahHealth Ministry issues news guidelines for Simchat Torah, including instructions not to call entire congregation to the Torah.Arutz Sheva Staff , 08October2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/288670 The Health Ministry presented updated guidelines for the Simchat Torah holiday, which begins Friday night. Gatherings in open areas will be limited to 20 people, and only within 1,000 meters of the attendee’s house. If there are several groups of worshipers, they should be at a distance of at least 20 meters from the other groups. The hakafot, rounds of dancing with the Torah scroll which are held on Simchat Torah, may be held, but participants must maintain a distance of at least two meters between each other. People who hold the Torah scroll must disinfect their hands after handing it off to the next person. The Torah scroll should not be kissed, and participants must wear masks even while dancing. There will be no kiddush in the synagogue on Shabbat, and the entire congregation will not be called up to the Torah during services as is traditionally done in other years. It will not be permitted to host a house guest except for people who live together. |
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 Regulations for Prayers on Yom Kippur 5781
Coronavirus High Holy Days lockdown rules – everything you need to knowThe following restrictions go into effect at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 18By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN SEPTEMBER 19, 2020 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/govt-approves-high-holy-day-regulations-lockdown-starts-friday-642581 Restrictions on leaving one’s residence: This restriction enables going out into the public sphere, including parks and playgrounds, within this limit. Exceptions to the 1-kilometer restriction: * Going to work / IDF base Restrictions on being in various places > It is prohibited to be in a residence of another person (except for some permitted purpose, such as carrying out work or assisting someone with a difficulty) > Prohibition of gatherings – up to 10 people inside, 20 in an open space Restrictions on commercial and recreational activity: * It is prohibited to open businesses and places open to the public (including commerce, restaurants, swimming pools, gyms, barbershops, beauty parlors, places of recreation and hotels) as well as reception hours at places of work. Exceptions: * There is no restriction on employees entering places of work provided that said place of work is not open to the public (for example, to carry out maintenance work, arrange merchandise, etc.) Outline for prayers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: > It is permitted to go to a place in the public sphere where prayers are being held provided that it is no more than 1 kilometer from one’s residence. Permitted capacity for prayers inside during the high holy days: * Red areas – 30 people for the first two entrances, 20 people for each additional entrance Public transportation: > City buses on regular routes – 32 passengers Special directives for passengers: * Passengers in ground transportation vehicles may not eat while they are in the vehicle unless it necessary to maintain health Workplaces: > Public sector: The number of employees in government offices, local authorities and religious councils shall not exceed 10 workers or 50% of the workforce at any one time, whichever is highest. |
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Coronavirus Emergency Regulations effective 11August2020Joint PMO, Health Ministry and Finance Ministry StatementGovernment The 35th Government Publish Date 09August2020 https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/spoke_joint_statement090820 The Corona Cabinet, approved regulations providing for restrictions on business activity, places of work, places that are open to the public and gatherings, as well as rules of behavior in the public sphere in the shadow of the spread of the coronavirus and regarding currently existing rules about places of work. The decision will take effect upon the expiration of the relevant emergency regulations on Tuesday, 11 August 2020. The regulations determine the following arrangements: A. Rules in the public sphere regarding the maintaining of a distance of two meters between people B. A prohibition on gatherings in the private sphere, the public sphere, public places and places of business, of more than 20 people in open areas and of more than 10 in a structure. C. A restriction on traveling in private vehicles of no more than two passengers in addition to the driver, and if the vehicle has more than one rear bench, of one passenger on each rear bench, except for people who live together. D. Local authorities shall post signs adjacent to public playgrounds regarding the requirement to maintain distance, the prohibition on gatherings and the wearing of masks. E. Rules applying to public places or places of business are as follows (inter alia): Submission of a declaration, placing of barriers, signs, appointment of someone to be responsible for corona-related matters, questioning and taking of temperatures, demarcation of places to stand in lines, maintaining rules of hygiene and disinfection, non-entry of people without masks, etc. F. Maximum capacities for public places and places of business: One person per 7 square meters or as per the restriction on gatherings (whichever is higher). Exceptions: Eating establishments (20 people in a closed space in a structure and up to 30 people outside); eating establishments in hotels (up to 35% capacity according to the business license); group therapy in a social welfare framework (up to 15 people); pools and mikvaot (in the water, up to 1 person per 6 square meters). Signs regarding the permitted number of persons must be posted; the number of those present must be regulated. G. Clarification: Nothing in the foregoing shall detract from “manager’s directions (horaot menahel)” given pursuant to public health ordinances to prevent the spread of the virus to houses of prayer, mikvaot, eating establishments, barbershops and beauty salons, etc. H. Additional conditions (in addition to the conditions and rules for places open to the public and businesses) shall be set for malls and open-air markets including the prevention of eating in common food courts. I. For delivery service, the delivered goods shall be placed adjacent to the entrance of the residence, outside. J. The head of the service or the district physician in the Health Ministry shall have the authority, should it be discovered that someone with the coronavirus was in a public place or place of business, to order the closure or partial closure of the place for the period necessary to prevent infection with the virus or the holding of an epidemiological investigation, for the period of time determined in this regulation. The regulations include the option of contesting this determination. K. It shall be prohibited to operate discotheques, bars and pubs, halls or gardens for events, waterparks, amusement parks (including indoors), jacuzzis in licensed commercial establishments and places for holding fairs. L. Holding the following events – in which the number of participants exceeds that which is permitted by the prohibition on gatherings – shall be subject to restriction: Conferences, parties, festivals, organized tours, etc. This applies whether said gatherings are in private or public spaces and whether they are in spaces open to the public or a place of business. M. The opening of swimming pools for toddlers. N. The new regulations allow (inter alia) the holding of performing art shows subject to the restrictions on attending gatherings. The Director General of the Ministry of Health, in consultation with the Director General of the Ministry of Culture and Sports shall be eligible to allow a cultural institution to hold performances according to such other conditions as he may decide. Regarding places of work that do not receive the public, the rules which applied up until today – according to which there are restrictions on gatherings of up to 10 people in closed spaces and up to 20 in open spaces – no longer apply. In their stead are directives for employers on how to act in order to minimize infection with the virus. Thus, places of work that do not receive the public may continue to operate properly and continually. The regulations also contain exceptions for essential places of work regarding the need to meet the rules should that not be possible, in order to maintain the continuous activity of the economy. The rules that apply to places of work: A. Maintaining a distance of two meters between workers Pursuant to the law, the regulations which were passed according to the law will be presented to the Knesset House Committee. The Knesset shall be eligible to approve them in their entirety or in part or change the period in which they will be valid, within 24 hours. Should no decision be made within 24 hours, the regulations will be published and thereby take effect (24 hours after the decision was passed), and the Knesset House Committee will hold a discussion on the regulations and decide whether to approve them as per the foregoing, within 14 days regarding the restrictions on private and public spaces, or 28 days regarding restrictions on commercial activity and places open to the public. |
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Updated 2nd Wave Coronavirus Emergency Regulations-Effective 06July2020 and laterUpdate 10July2020 lockdowns on weekends
Israeli Ministers approve coronavirus lockdowns on weekendsLockdown includes malls nonessential shops,full lockdown to be imposed by July 24 pending Knesset approval; public gatherings limited to 10 people in-doors and 20 outside all weekItamar Eichner , Reuters | Updated: 17July2020 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/IEEGMHZG4 Israel imposed a new weekend shutdown on Friday and tightened a series of coronavirus curbs to lower infection rates, amid growing public anger over the government’s handling of the crisis. People would be allowed to leave their homes this weekend but malls, shops, pools, zoos and museums would shut from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, the government said in a statement. Full weekend lockdowns that could confine people to their homes may be imposed by July 24, after the government gains parliamentary approval, Weekends in Israel begin on Friday afternoon, the eve of the Jewish Sabbath, and last until Sunday – a working day. On weekends all shops, malls, beauty salons, hairdressers, and other non-essential supplies would be closed while shops offering food, drug and other essential supplies would remain open. On all days, gatherings will be limited to 10 people indoors and 20 outdoors and restaurants would be allowed to serve take-out only, and pools and gyms would be closed the government said. A further decision on whether to keep summer schools and nurseries open would be made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz on Friday. Israel reopened schools and many businesses in May, lifting restrictions that had flattened an infection curve after a partial lockdown imposed in March. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to ministers that although the government is pushing for the closure of restaurants, gyms, and fitness studios, the state does not have data about the number of infections detected there and the decision is “based on common sense,” but warned that a failure to curb the spread of the virus would result in 1,600 people needing ICU’s within three weeks a number hospitals would be unable to sustain. The Director-General of the Health Ministry Professor Hezi Levy told the cabinet he did not expect a coronavirus vaccine to be available before the next year. Netanyahu convened health experts, and members of the National Security Council for a meeting earlier in the day, just hours after the Health Ministry reported 1,758 new cases of coronavirus were detected in the previous 24 hours, bringing the infection rate to an alarming 7.7%. “Since daily infections nearly hit 1,800 cases and the number of seriously ill doubles every seven days, I have spoken to Defense Minister Benny Gantz, NSC chief Meir Ben Shabbat, and Science Minister Yizhar Shai, about taking short-term steps to avoid a general lockdown,” said Netanyahu after the meeting. Update 10July2020 Lockdowns begin in neighborhoods across Israel
Lockdowns begin in neighborhoods across IsraelParts of Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Ramle, Lod, and Kiryat Malachi placed under lockdown Friday afternoon.Arutz Sheva Staff, 10July2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/283344 The Israeli government imposed lockdowns on nearly a dozen neighborhoods in five different cities across the country Friday afternoon. Beginning at 1:00 p.m. Friday, police sealed off neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Lod, Ramle, and Kiryat Malachi. The closures, which severely limit movement into and out of the affected neighborhoods, is set to last one week, ending next Friday at 8:00 a.m. Business operation will also be severely limited in the affected areas. The affected neighborhoods include the Romema, Kiryat Sanz, Belz, and Mattersdorf neighborhoods in Jerusalem; the neighborhoods of Nahala V’Menucha and Kaneh HaBossem in Beit Shemesh; Lod’s Ganei Ya’ar and Sach neighorhoods; the Amidar-Bilu neighborhood in Ramle; and the Ahuzat Rotner and Chabad neighborhoods in Kiryat Malachi. In addition, the partial restrictions on three Lod neighborhoods – Harakevet, Shanir, and Neve Shalom – will be extended for five extra days, ending on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon criticized the decision to impose lockdowns on parts of the capital, saying the “solution to the coronavirus pandemic is to isolate the sick people.” “But the minute you impose a lockdown, it causes mass infection. These people will go out and infect whoever is in the neighborhood.” “I requested that I be given the tools to evacuate the carriers to [coronavirus] hotels until they recover,” Leon told Reshet Bet. “Infected people should not be staying at home. You can close whatever you want, but how long can you keep that going? Business owners are saying that it’s better to get infected by the coronavirus than to suffer the economic blow. Before you start closing neighborhoods, I want to hear some logic.” |
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Update 09July2020 Public transportation restrictions Effective 09July2020
New public transport restrictions come into effectTransport Ministry re-adjusts restrictions: up to 50% occupancy, weekday routes end at 10pm, reinforcing central lines at rush hour.Mordechai Sones , 09July2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/283264 The main limitation affects bus drivers who may transport only up to 50% of the maximum amount of passengers able be seated in a given vehicle. The windows must be open with the air conditioners operating. Weekday public transport will end at 22:00 and will run until Shabbat begins and on Saturday night will continue even after 22:00. Alongside this, central routes during rush hour will be strengthened with more busses and buses leaving the railway stations will continue to operate even after 10 pm. Pursuant to agreements with the Defense Ministry, soldiers may travel on buses on Sundays until 12:00 and on Thursdays from 12:00. During all other hours, travel may be made only via private vehicle. Soldiers will also be able to board Israel Railways on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday only and must wear nose-and-mouth masks while traveling. Israel Railways will continue to operate in accordance with the existing outline of pre-purchased tickets. Transport Minister Miri Regev said, “We are still anticipating inconveniences, passengers who won’t be able to get on the bus. In the early days there may be problems and inconveniences and we expect the public to be tolerant.” |
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Coronavirus restrictions reinstated: What are the new rules?On Monday, the government approved a set of new regulations to help limit the spread of the coronavirus across Israel. What are they?By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN 06July2020 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/coronavirus-restrictions-reinstated-what-are-the-new-rules-634060 On Monday,[06July2020] the government approved a set of new regulations to help limit the spread of the coronavirus across Israel. This is the first set of new directives that reduce freedom of movement and gathering since May, when Israel began relaxing restrictions and re-opening its economy.
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Coronavirus Emergency Regulations-29June2020
Netanyahu announces additional coronavirus restrictionsCoronavirus Cabinet Ministers unanimously decide on steps to limit gatherings and social functions.Mordechai Sones ,29June2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/282673 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today convened the Coronavirus Cabinet to discuss further restrictions required in light of high morbidity data. Coronavirus Cabinet Ministers unanimously decided on the following steps to limit gatherings and social functions: – Halls and cultural performances: up to 250 participants. – Circumcisions and funerals: up to 50 participants. – Weddings:
– Prayers and other gatherings: up to 50 people. – Higher education – switching to online exams (except for cases that have been agreed upon between the Health Ministry and Higher Education Council). – Public sector work – 30% work from home (in accordance with arrangements to be determined by the Civil Service Commissioner and with administrative flexibility for the office Director). |
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Coronavirus Emergency Regulations-22June2020
Israel steps up enforcement measures as COVID-19 cases continue to riseBy Michael Seinberg 24June2020 https://jewishworldnews.org/israel-steps-up-enforcement-measures-as-covid-19-cases-continue-to-rise/ (JNS) – Israel on Monday, June 22, approved a series of steps regarding the country’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, including beefing up enforcement measures and authorizing the creation of a new national enforcement authority. Fines, Protections In addition, testing and protective measures for at-risk populations, especially the elderly, will be increased, and the government will also evaluate, in coordination with the Civil Service Commissioner, the possibility of employees returning to work in “capsules,” meaning restricting the numbers of workers in any particular workplace. School activity and private camps during the summer months were also approved. … |
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Lockdown regulations significantly eased with reopening of most businessesRestaurants, bars, pubs, swimming pools, tourist attractions to reopen. Social distancing rules to be maintained.Y Rabinovitz , 26May2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280916 A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office stressed that: “This easing of lockdown regulations has only been made possible due to the continued downward trend in the number of new cases of coronavirus, which is itself due to the public’s adherence to the rules made by the government designed to limit rates of contagion.” Restaurants, bars, and pubs: These may reopen and serve seated customers. The number of customers allowed at any one time is the number stated on the business license; or, in a place where capacity is greater than 100, 85% of the maximum capacity. Swimming pools (excepting children’s pools): One person per six meters square. Tourist attractions, cable cars, boating: Cable cars – up to 50% of full capacity and not more than 20 people per car. Stores, markets, malls, non-medical treatments: One person per seven meters square; or up to 50 people, as long as space constraints permit social distancing. General regulations for private facilities:
Businesses: The number of employees allowed in a single workspace is no longer restricted, as long as social distancing is observed; or, alternatively, as long as there are physical barriers between employees that prevent respiratory transmission. Up to 50 people may be present at a business meeting, again subject to social distancing. Private vehicles: Up to two passengers in addition to the driver. If the vehicle has more than one row of seats behind the driver, that row may accommodate an additional passenger. This applies also to taxi services. If the passengers and driver are all from one home, or the trip is urgent, more passengers may be accommodated. “Great news today,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said with regard to the new guidelines. “Restaurants, pubs, bars, parks, and swimming pools are now permitted to reopen. First of all, we want to help the economy – to help business owners and the self-employed who have all been waiting for this moment. Secondly, we want to make people’s lives easier, so that we can go out and get a breath of fresh air, get back to routine as much as possible, drink a coffee or a beer with friends. “We’ll be following developments closely to make sure that the rates of contagion don’t rise as a result, and we hope very much that lockdown will soon become a thing of the past.” |
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Non-Israeli yeshiva students to be permitted to return to IsraelIsrael okays return of foreign yeshiva students seeking to resume their studies – provided specific precautions are taken.David Rosenberg , 24May2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280763 Americans and other non-Israeli citizens studying in Israeli yeshivas and religious seminaries will be permitted to return to Israel to resume their studies, Israel’s Interior Ministry has ruled. In a letter penned by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) last week, the ministry announced that non-citizens carrying valid student visas will be permitted to return to Israel, ending the ban on their return which had been put in place during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. “Because of the importance of Torah learning and the return of regular studies” in yeshivas, wrote Deri, “I have decided, in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry and the Health Ministry, to permit married yeshiva students learning in established institutions, along with their families, to return to Israel, if they’re carrying valid visas.” “To make the process easier, I have decided to let all requests [for return] be put forward by yeshiva deans directly to the Population Authority, at the special email address: KERENNATHAN-ASHROT@PIBA.GOV.IL, rather than through consulates. Yeshivas must state that they know that the married student and his family members have lodgings where they can be in isolation [upon their return to Israel].” Unmarried yeshiva students will also be able to return to Israel to resume their studies, Deri wrote, so long as the yeshiva declares that the student has a place in a separate dormitory to isolate returning students, in accordance with Health Ministry regulations. In addition, Minister Deri laid out six requirements for returning yeshiva students. First, returning students must make sure that they are picked up at the airport by a private driver, and that they will be taken directly from the airport to their place of self-quarantine. Secondly, dorms for returning students must be totally separate from the dorms used for students not in isolation. Thirdly, every returning student must have their own room and bathroom (with a shower) during their time in isolation). Fourthly, the yeshiva must provide returning students with food while they are in isolation. Fifth, each yeshiva must have a liaison to maintain contact between the quarantined students and the yeshiva management. Sixth, any student who shows signs of illness must be reported immediately to health authorities. |
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Spike in coronavirus in Israel’s capital spreads nationwide118 cases in one day * more than 13,000 teachers, students in isolationBy MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN 04JUNE2020 https://www.jpost.com/health-science/10-more-schools-shutdown-thousands-of-students-and-teachers-in-isolation-630259 …Single yeshiva and seminary students will no longer be able to enter the country, according to a letter disseminated Wednesday by Interior Minister Arye Deri. Students who are married and learning full-time as their job can come to Israel if they received permission on or before May 21. However, no new permits will be granted, he said. Meanwhile, the Health and Transportation ministries announced that intercity trains will begin fully operating beginning on Monday, June 8. The trains would help relieve pressure on the bus system and allow easier movement for the public, Transportation Minister Miri Regev said in a statement. Finance Minister Amir Peretz on Thursday said his office was working on expanding measures that would enable more businesses to open while still adhering to the Health Ministry’s Purple Ribbon standard, which is up for renewal. Among his recommendations are no longer requiring stores to record the name and registration numbers of its customers, allowing employees to eat in their office cafeteria and shifting the regulation on allowing only 50 people to operate with two meters between them to something more accessible. “We will maintain our health and livelihoods,” Peretz said…. According to the latest statistics from the Israeli Employment Service, more than 110,000 people are looking for work. |
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Cabinet approves further relief measuresReturnees from abroad will be permitted to spend their 14-day isolation home. Synagogues and museums will open.Arutz Sheva Staff , 20May2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280528 The Cabinet on Tuesday night [19May2020] approved a series of changes to the emergency regulations and lifted some of the restrictions that had been placed on the public as part of the fight against the coronavirus. The prohibition of staying at a beach has been lifted, and from now on, staying at a beach will be possible in accordance with several guidelines, including maintaining physical distance between bathers. The prohibition on prayer in a building was lifted as well. Prayer will be possible under restrictions that include up to 50 people in the building, while maintaining a distance of two meters between people, wearing masks and appointing a person who will be tasked with ensuring that the guidelines are followed. The ban on operating a museum has been lifted as well. Operation of facilities or exhibits for children that can be touched will not be permitted in museums. Museums will adhere to the guidelines on the operation a public space, including allowing the entrance of one person per 15 square meters. It was further determined that a person returning from abroad could leave the border crossing for isolation 14 days at his home for (or another place at his disposal), if he specifies, during his questioning upon returning to Israel, the place of isolation available to him and its conditions, and pledges in writing not to use public transportation to travel to his home. A representative of the Ministry of Health may order a person returning from abroad to stay in isolation in a place provided by the state if he is convinced that the person cannot fulfill the isolation duty in his place of residence or elsewhere, or if the person refuses to sign the pledge or specify the place of isolation. The Ministry of Health urges the public to continue to adhere to the guidelines related to physical distancing, wearing masks and maintaining hygiene, in order to continue to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Israel. |
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18May2020-Health Minister Yaakov Litzman: There was an overreaction on coronavirusOutgoing Health Minister: I shouted during the government meeting when the Director-General said there could be 10,000 coronavirus deaths.Ben Ariel, 18May2020 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280391 Outgoing Health Minister Yaakov Litzman said on Sunday that he, too, thought there was an overreaction when preparing for the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking in an interview on Reshet Bet radio, Litzman claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “responded to the fears of the Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Moshe Bar Siman Tov.” “I, too, thought it was an overreaction when my Director-General said there could be ten thousand dead. I shouted during the government meeting, in his presence, that it would not happen. The Prime Minister accepted this exaggeration and responded to the fears of the Director-General, I am not complaining about him, because overall the situation is excellent.” Litzman also spoke about his new role as Minister of Construction and Housing, and made it clear that he would look out for everyone, including the haredi public. “There is no shame in helping the haredi sector,” he added. “I want every young couple in Israel to have an apartment.” According to the Ministry of Health’s data, there are 3,403 active cases of coronavirus in Israel, 44 of whom are in serious condition. To date, 272 Israelis have died of the coronavirus and 12,942 have recovered. |
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Public transportation to resume on weekendsCity bus lines will continue to run on weekends, but canceled lines will not resume operations, Transportation Ministry decides.Orly Harari 12May2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/280089 Public transportation will resume operating on weekends beginning this weekend, with city bus lines returning to normal on Friday and Saturday. In areas where Shabbat (Sabbath) buses operated, operations will resume operations throughout the weekend. The Transportation Ministry’s National Public Transport Authority decided that city bus lines which run during the week will continue to run on weekends, but lines which have been canceled will not resume operations. The Authority is working to meet the public’s demands for public transportation, while at the same time limit the number of passengers. At the same time, the number of drivers and buses is limited, and the demand for public transportation grows with each passing day. “The National Public Transport Authority calls on the public to adhere to the guidelines, to make certain to wear a mask during the entire ride, and not to travel if you suffer from coronavirus symptoms,” it said in a statement, emphasizing that during the outbreak, payment via cash, and loading a Rav Kav card, cannot be done on the bus itself. |
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 Lag Ba’Omer 5780 Taking the fire out of Lag Ba’omer amid coronavirus in IsraelBy HERB KEINON MAY 11, 2020 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/taking-the-fire-out-of-lag-baomer-amid-coronavirus-in-israel-627659 מירון- ההדלקה המרכזית התש”פ11May2020 |
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PM, Health Ministry, Amend Coronavirus Emergency Regulations, Here Are the Main PointsBy David Israel – 11 Iyyar 5780 – 05May2020 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/government-israel/pm-health-ministry-amend-coronavirus-emergency-regulations-here-are-the-main-points/2020/05/05/ The Cabinet on Monday night approved a series of additional amendments to the emergency regulations that will allow the economy to return to activity in the shadow of the coronavirus. The amendments cancel restrictions on leaving one’s home except to places and activities that are prohibited in the regulations. Following are the main points of “Emergency Regulations (New Coronavirus – Restriction of Activity)”: * Starting Monday 04 May 2020, additional businesses and activities will be allowed to open including: Libraries, all kinds of non-medical treatment on the human body, complementary medicine, hotels and guest houses, nature reserves, heritage sites, national parks, zoos and safaris. Activity at swimming pools will be permitted for competitive athletes and therapy. * Malls, open-air markets and gyms will be allowed to open on 7 May 2020. Mall operators will be required to meet the rules for maintaining public health and will sign an on-line form to this effect on the Economy and Industry Ministry website; the form will be passed on to the relevant local authority. Under these rules, an employee will be appointed responsible for carrying out activity to maintain public health at the mall. The entry of people to the mall – including mall employees – will be regulated so that at no time will there be more than one person per 20 square meters in the mall. A sign will be posted regarding the number of people permitted in the mall. Strict care will be taken to maintain two meters’ distance between people in the mall including in lines. Places for those waiting in line will be delineated; signs will be posted about maintaining distance. The rules of hygiene – including disinfection of surfaces – will be strictly maintained. Accessible stands with hand disinfectant will be placed in the mall. Sitting for the purpose of eating will not be permitted in the mall. Retail markets will be allowed to open upon receiving a permit from the local authority and pursuant to the following conditions: The local authority will regulate the entry of people to the market, including workers and business owners, so that at no time will there be more than one person in the open area per 20 square meters of space. The local authority will set and implement a mechanism to limit the number of people in the market. A sign will be posted regarding the number of people permitted in the market. The local authority will take maximum care vis-à-vis maintaining two meters’ distance between people in the market including in lines, in order to prevent crowding. Places for those waiting in line will be delineated; signs will be posted about maintaining distance. The rules of hygiene – including disinfection of surfaces – will be strictly maintained. Accessible stands with hand disinfectant will be placed in the market. The authority will not allow sitting for the purpose of eating in the market will not permit the entry of people not wearing masks to the market. * Those operating libraries will be required to observe additional conditions including the placing of partitions at the borrowing desk to prevent the transfer of respiratory droplets and the separation of books that have been returned to the library for three days. * Those operating stores and businesses for non-medical treatment will be allowed to bring in customers according to the ratio of one customer per 15 square meters of space open to customers, or two people per cash register, whichever is higher. * Going to beaches is prohibited except for sport activity in the sea. * The restriction on praying more than 500 meters from the home or workplace is cancelled; the restriction of no more than 19 people for prayers in an open space remains in force. * Circumcisions may be held with up to 19 people (as opposed to ten) in attendance. * In public places and at workplaces, buildings of more than five stories may have up to 50% of the maximum allowed occupancy in elevators, thus allowing more than two people in any given elevator. * Mental health treatment is allowed without masks, provided a distance of three meters is maintained between care provider and care recipient. * Alongside the existing restrictions on activity at mikvahs (up to three men at mikvahs for men and advance appointments at mikvahs for women), a person appointed by the operator will be responsible to see that the rules are maintained. * Regarding restrictions in Muslim-majority communities, the emergency regulation barring stores and businesses from opening between 19:30 and 03:00 is extended until Sunday, 10 May 2020. The foregoing amendments shall be valid until Monday, May 18, 2020. Emergency Regulations (Restricted Zones): The Cabinet approved extension of “Emergency Regulations (Restricted Zones)” until Tuesday, 2 June 2020. The relevant ministerial committee will be able to declare communities, or sections of communities, in which there have been coronavirus outbreaks, to be restricted zones. Extension of the authorization of the Israel Security Agency (ISA) to assist in the national effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and the advancement of legislation: The Cabinet decided to extend the validity of the authorization of the ISA to assist in the national effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus until Tuesday, 16 June 2020, or until completion of the legislative process and the entry into effect of the legislation. The decision will be submitted to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for approval. The Health Ministry calls on the public to continue listening to the directives on physical distancing, wearing masks and maintaining hygiene, in order to ensure public health and continue the common struggle against the spread of the coronavirus. |
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Israel approves reopening of all streets stores, barbershopsThe government votes to further ease the coronavirus restrictions on businesses but malls, restaurants and gyms to remain closed; business owners who violate Health Ministry’s orders could face up to 6 months in prisonYnet | Published: 24April2020 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Q5PRHXAJI Israeli government on Friday morning approved further lifting of coronavirus restrictions, which includes the reopening of all street shops, barbershops and beauty salons. The new directives set to take effect on Sunday morning. Large shopping malls, gyms as well as restaurants and cafes that don’t offer delivery services will remain closed for the time being. Restaurants and cafes that so far were able to provide food deliveries, will be able to offer take away services starting Sunday. The stores will be required to adhere to health directives and set up barriers between customers and sales staff. There will also be restrictions on the number of customers allowed inside each store. The Health Ministry said it is the duty of each business owner to prevent large gatherings of customers outside the entrance. Owners also must put up signs at every entrance telling customers how many people are allowed inside. An employee must be placed at the entrance of each business equipped with digital thermometers to measure the temperature of each customer. Businesses that require employees to work shifts will have the same employees working in each shift. Employees at barbershops and beauty salons must wear gloves, which have to be changed between each client, as well as protective face gear. Staff must try to keep a two-meter distance from customers if possible. Business space that measures 75 meters can have no more than six customers at once, while eight customers are allowed if the space measures over 100 meters. Business owners who violate health directives could face up to six months in prison and large fines. A decision to reopen the malls will be discussed again in a week after a tracking app to monitor shoppers gets approval from government officials. |
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Remembrance Day, Independence Day regulations releasedRegulations ban visiting cemeteries on Remembrance Day and buying food, leaving home except for ‘essential’ items on Independence Day.Arutz Sheva Staff , 22April2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/279061 The Cabinet, today (Wednesday, 22 April 2020), by conference call, approved emergency regulations on going out into the public sphere on Remembrance Day, Independence Day and during the month of Ramadan in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Israel. Regulations for Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Victims of Terrorism: * It will be permitted to leave one’s home in order to visit the graves of IDF fallen, victims of terrorism, and memorial sites from today (Wednesday, 22 April 2020) until the eve of Remembrance Day (Monday, 27 April 2020), at 16:00. * It should be emphasized that the regulations for the eve of Remembrance Day and Remembrance Day (starting at 16:00 on Monday, 27 April 2020), will not permit leaving one’s home in order to visit cemeteries and memorial sites. Regulations for Independence Day: * From 17:00 on Tuesday, 28 April 2020 until 20:00 on Wednesday, 29 April 2020, people may leave their homes only to buy medicine and essential products and to receive essential services within their communities of residence, or within the closest adjacent community should these be unobtainable in their communities of residence. * There will be no public transportation during this period. The Health Ministry reiterates that citizens must celebrate Independence Day in their homes. The purchase of food on the eve of Independence Day and on Independence Day itself will not be permitted. People may leave their homes for fresh air and exercise adjacent to their homes (subject to regulations), as per the procedures that applied on the first night of Passover. Regulations for the month of Ramadan: From Thursday, 23 April 2020, until Sunday, 3 May 2020, in communities the majority of whose residents are Muslim, as well as in certain areas in Jerusalem, it has been decided that businesses and stores that receive the public will not open from 18:00-03:00, except for pharmacies. Businesses will be able to provide delivery service only. Additional emergency regulations approved by the Cabinet: * Leaving one’s home for work interviews shall also be permitted. * Weddings may be held in open areas with the attendance of up to 19 people, while maintaining a distance of two meters between people. The Health Ministry calls on residents to adhere to the decisions that have been made and act accordingly, in order to safeguard families’ health and to prevent the spread of the virus in the public sphere. |
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Cabinet approves easing of some coronavirus restrictionsAt request of Health Minister Litzman, restrictions on public prayers eased – now worshippers allowed to hold outdoor prayers in groups of up to 19 participants; ritual baths to reopen for up to 3 people at a timeAsaf Zagrizek, Itamar Eichner |
After an all-night conference call, ministers approved a gradual opening of the economy and an easing of some of the personal restrictions Israelis had been asked to observe. People will be required to wear facial masks in public and will be fined NIS 200 shekels for failing to after being warned one time. The cabinet’s decisions include the release of some restrictions on religious worship and practice. Prayers will now be allowed in groups of 19 people that must be wearing facial masks, to be conducted outdoors and while maintaining a two-meter distance. These prayers can be held at a distance of up to 500 meters from homes and places of work. At the request of Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Mikveh, ritual baths will be opened and will allow up to three people in at a time. Electrical appliance, computer and communication devices stores, office and home furnishing retailers, eyewear sellers, book shops, arts and crafts, office supplies, sporting goods, medical equipment, laundromats, clothing, and shoe repair stores will be opened as long as they are not situated inside shopping malls or in shopping centers with more than 15 shops on site. Businesses will be required to maintain social distancing and limit the number of customers allowed inside at all times with service providers limited to four people or if the shop is smaller than 100 square meters, two people only with a partition between proprietors and customers in place. Shops will be asked to record the names of people entering their place of business and take people’s temperature before allowing them to come in. If any service provider is found to be infected with COVID-19, the shop will be closed by health authorities. Customers will be allowed to collect goods from these businesses and deliveries will be permitted. The cabinet approved increasing the number of employees allowed at any place of work from 15% to 30% of the workforce. Businesses that have already been given a special permit to operate from the Health Ministry will be allowed to have more employees on-site in adherence of the requirements of their permit which include a dedicated manager for coronavirus restrictions, monitoring employee health and banning entry to anyone with a fever measuring more than 38 degrees C. Customers will not be allowed into these premises at all. No more than two people would be allowed to work in a 20 square meter room unless they are separated by a partition to prevent the spread of droplets. There can be no more than eight people on shift or in a conference room at one time. with the same teams operating in the same space and using the same equipment must be kept constant. No congregation would be allowed in dining rooms or kitchenettes. People over the age of 67 would only be allowed to work from home and should a case of COVID-19 be found in the place of work, it will be closed by health authorities. The prime minister instructed public transportation to increase its volume and work at 40-50% capacity, allowing people to board wearing facial masks. Window seats only would be available for use. Buses must mark standing room availability to prevent close contact between passengers. Special education schools will be opened as of Tuesday, for groups of three students. All other educational institutions will remain closed or conduct distance learning. Child-care will be allowed in groups of three families with a caregiver. No more than two people will be allowed to participate in sports while the activity will be restricted to 500 meters from home. Netanyahu said on Saturday that the easing of restrictions will be re-evaluated in two weeks and should an increase in coronavirus cases be identified, the new measures would be reversed. |
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Chief Rabbis release special Passover guidelines for coronavirus periodChief Rabbis stress Zoom is not permitted on first and last days of Passover, give instructions regarding pre-Passover preparations.Arutz Sheva staff , 07April2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/278423  Chief Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak with Chief Rabbi David Lau Israel’s Chief Rabbis, Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, have released guidelines for the observance of Passover during the coronavirus epidemic. Regarding the burning of hametz (leavened bread), the rabbis wrote: “People should not go to a distance from their homes in order to burn the hametz. ‘The wise person will plan ahead’ and make sure not to be left with a large amount of hametz to burn.” “This year, people can remove the hametz by pouring bleach on it in order to render it inedible and then throw it in the garbage. Small amounts of hametz [less than a ‘kezayit’ which is approximately the size of a matchbox] can be flushed down the toilet.” The Chief Rabbis also mentioned the use of the Zoom app that was recently touted as a possible solution for people isolated in their homes on seder night. “Recently, the possibility of using Zoom was raised even in cases where there is no danger to life or health or mental health … The ban on using electricity applies on festivals [just as on Shabbat], even if a Shabbat (Sabbath) timer is used.” The Chief Rabbis emphasized that, “The loneliness is painful and we must endeavor to find a solution to it – perhaps by talking via a computer on the eve of the festival, but not by desecrating the festival itself.” |
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Complete lockdown from 7:00p.m., curfew from 3:00p.m. WednesdayGovernment approves lockdown measures, forcing citizens indoors beginning Wednesday afternoon. [Lockdown 07April2020, Curfew 08April2020 until 10April2020]Arutz Sheva Staff , 07April2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/278430 Israel’s government on Tuesday afternoon approved new emergency measures to limit activity, in a further attempt to contain the spread of coronavirus over Passover. The new lockdown, announced Monday evening, will not allow citizens to leave their towns. It will go into effect at 7:00p.m. on Tuesday, and remain in effect until 6:00a.m. on Friday morning. Exceptions will be made for the purchase of food, medicine, or other essential items, and for essential services, if they cannot be received in the town. Jerusalem will be divided into quarters. The guidelines also state that from 8:00p.m. on Tuesday until 8:00a.m. on Sunday, there will be no public transportation, including international flights. International passenger flights will be allowed to operate only with prior approval from the Transportation and Interior ministries. Private group transportation will be permissible only in accordance with the guidelines, and taxis will operate according to the guidelines and only for essential needs. Beginning on Wednesday, April 8, at 3:00p.m., purchase of food will also be forbidden. The government emphasized that citizens are required to spend the Passover holiday in the homes in which they live. This ban will be in place until April 9, at 7:00a.m. These guidelines will not apply in towns in which the majority of the population is not Jewish. Citizens of all religions will be permitted to purchase food until Wednesday, April 8, at 3:00p.m. It will also be permissible to transport children between the homes of their divorced parents. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry Director-General has signed an order requiring Israelis to wear masks outside their homes. The masks must cover both the nose and mouth, and must be masks intended for the purpose or homemade in accordance with the Health Ministry guidelines. It is believed that masks which cover both the nose and mouth reduce transmission of coronavirus. Children under age six will not be required to wear masks, nor will those with mental, emotional, or medical issues which significantly increase the difficulty involved in wearing a mask. The order will also not apply to those who are in a vehicle, building, or room without additional persons, who are in the above locations with other members of their household, or who are participating in the broadcast of media which requires speaking during the broadcast, so long as the person remains two meters from other people. Two employees who consistently work in the same room at their place of employment also do not have to wear masks, as long as they maintain two meters from each other, in accordance with the guidelines. The order to wear masks will go into effect on Sunday morning at 7:00a.m. It is time to start wearing a Mask for the protection of others |
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Lockdown on cities until SundayGovernment to approve new restrictions to prevent gatherings on last day of Passover, Mimouna holiday.Arutz Sheva Staff , 13April2020 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/278646
The government is expected to approve on Monday severe restrictions for the coming days to prevent rallies and family gatherings on the last days of Passover/ The ministers will be asked to approve, according to the outline, a total ban on leaving the home, which will take effect tomorrow at 5 PM and will continue until Thursday morning.There is also concern over celebrations of Mimouna, a North African Jewish festival which is held the day after Passover. As a result residents will be banned from leaving their municipalities from Tomorrow [Tuesday, 14april2020] at 5 PM until Sunday [19April2020] morning at 6 AM. Health officials said there was a serious fear that many citizens would seek to utilize Passover and Mimouna for family gatherings that were banned on the Seder. Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov again called on the public to stay home and not have family gatherings. “The danger of contracting and spreading the coronavirus has not yet passed,” he said. “I reiterate that leaving the home should only be done for essential activities such as food and medicine purchases.” “I understand it’s hard to stay home for long, but the public has proven and proven its ability to meet the guidelines and protect all of our families “Having holiday gatherings puts all of our lives at risk. We have seen what happens in other countries where discipline has loosened and we need to discover discipline over time so as not to reach these situations. I reiterate: stay home each day,” he concluded. |
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Jerusalem DividedBy Jewish Press News Desk 14 Nisan 5780 – 07April2020 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/jerusalem/jerusalem-divided/2020/04/07/  Jerusalem 7-Districts In order to limit the spread of the coronavirus not just between cities in Israel, but also within Jerusalem, the holy city has been divided into 7 districts, and during the full lockdown that begins on Tuesday afternoon at 8 PM (until at least Friday at 6 AM), travel between Jerusalem’s districts will be forbidden. On Wednesday afternoon, at 3 PM, until Thursday morning, at 7 AM, it will be forbidden to go outside beyond 100 meters from your residence. Arab towns will not have the more intense curfew applied to them on Wednesday night. Public transportation will stop at 8 PM on Tuesday, and only resume on Sunday morning. |
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DM Bennett’s coronavirus updateArutz Sheva TV 25March2020 Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency Regulations:As of 25March2020These are the new restrictions to take effect on Wednesday eveningGovernment approves new Health Ministry regulations, imposing additional limitations on trips to public areas. The Israeli government approved on Tuesday night emergency regulations to further restrict movement and curb the spread of coronavirus in Israel. Regulations include further reducing forays into public space, imposing liability on employers, closing non-essential stores, and imposing restrictions on public transport. The regulations will take effect on Wednesday at 5:00p.m. and will be in effect for a period of seven days. According to the new emergency regulations, it will not be possible to leave one’s place of residence or permanent residence in the public space, other than for one of the following reasons or purposes:
It was also decided that public transport services would be reduced to around 25% of the existing services, and in accordance with Health Ministry. Taxi services will be limited to one passenger or an additional escort for medical purposes, with passengers sitting in the back seat with car windows open. Regulations stipulate that at least 2 meters be maintained between people in public and the workplace. Up to 2 passengers may share an essential vehicle ride. Shuttle services to workplaces are also permitted, subject to restrictions. In addition, it was stated that an employer has a duty to measure temperatures at the entrance to the workplace. A person with a temperature exceeding 38°C (100.4°F) shall not be admitted. Alongside this, food delivery services, newspapers, as well as essential home maintenance services, electrical appliances, products, and communications services and medical accessories will be permitted. Online sale with shipping is allowed for all types of products. Residential delivery service shall place deliveries outside the residence. Businesses may sell food for consumption outside the dining and delivery service only. Pharmacies, optics establishments, or stores that primarily deal with sale of hygiene products will operate subject to maintaining 2 meters between people and preventing crowding, so that customers not be in the store at any time with more than 4 people waiting at an active cash register. It was established that violating the prohibitions will constitute a criminal offense, which will also allow imposing administrative fine on violators, and also provided for police powers to enforce the relevant provisions. All emergency Health Ministry regulations as approved by the government will be circulated as soon as possible. Beyond the said regulations, it was reiterated the common need to obey the rules in order to eradicate the spread of the virus. Populations of 60 or older, with emphasis on the elderly and populations at risk should stay in their homes and not risk going outside. Just prior to the release of the guidelines, Israel’s Chief Rabbinate announced that it is closing all synagogues until further notice, in light of the coronavirus spread.
 corona-strategy-tweet-25March2020 – The entire #CoronaVirus strategy in 2 minutes! Simple, yet effective breakdown by #Israel’s Defense Minister @naftalibennett :
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Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency Regulations: As of 25March2020 Chief Rabbinate closes all synagogues until further noticeChief Rabbinate closes all synagogues until further noticeNew guidelines to stem coronavirus go into effect Wednesday evening, Chief Rabbinate closes synagogues. The Chief Rabbinate announced Wednesday afternoon that it is closing all synagogues until further notice, in light of the coronavirus spread. The Health Ministry has made it clear that the new guidelines will be valid from 17:00 onwards and for seven days. In a live Facebook video, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett (Yamina) emphasized the importance of following the new guidelines, and mentioned that coronavirus remains on surfaces for hours and days on end. Praising the Israeli public for its general adherence to Health Ministry instructions, Bennett said: “The Israeli public has been remarkable in understanding the vital need to isolate, which is why I have a certain degree of optimism. But we’re going to hunker down in coming days.” “Beware of elevator buttons, ATM buttons, because those are mass contamination surfaces. Use a tissue or the fold in your finger. “I hope that after Passover we’ll be able to open up but that depends on the phase of massive testing.” |
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Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency Regulations:As of 20March2020When is it permitted to leave? How many passengers in the car?A citizen who violates isolation orders may be fined 5,000 shekels. Arutz Sheva Staff, 20March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277554 The Cabinet Ministers will approve in the coming hours the emergency regulations announced by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday evening. The regulations will turn the Ministry of Health’s guidelines into mandatory instructions and will significantly limit the movement of citizens across the country, with the aim of creating a “social distancing” that will further isolate the coronavirus and prevent it from spreading. According to the regulations, it will be permitted to leave a home or place of permanent residence and go out to the public space only for the purpose of: 1. Getting to and from a workplace, subject to the fact that the workplace can operate in accordance with the regulations separately laid down for that purpose. 2. Equipping and purchasing of foods, medicines, products and other basic or essential services. 3. Getting medical service. 4. Blood donation. 5. Demonstration. 6. Legal process. 7. Individual sports activity, except for members of the same family unit. 8. Exiting a place of residence for a short time and going to a place nearby by a single person or persons of the same family unit staying together in one place. 9. Leaving for a religious ceremony, including a wedding or funeral, as well as a prayer service for up to 10 people keeping a distance of two meters from each other. 10. Leaving in order to provide assistance to another person who has a medical problem or other difficulty requiring support. 11. Leaving for another essential purpose. The regulations establish rules of conduct in the public domain aimed at creating “social distancing” and preventing infection from person to person, including: 12. Keeping a distance of at least two meters between people as much as possible. 13. Traveling by private car is restricted to up to two passengers in the same vehicle. These instructions will not apply to individuals of the same family unit, or when traveling with more than two passengers in the same vehicle is essential. 14. As far as service providers are concerned, the regulations state that in a delivery service to a place of residence, the delivery will be placed near the door of the residence and outside it, and that vital repair service can be maintained. All trade, recreation and leisure activities are prohibited in places specified in the order – 1. A mall and a shopping complex comprising 10 stores or more or the total area of the shops exceeding 3,000 square meters, with the exception of a place for sale of food, a pharmacy, or a store whose main activity is the sale of hygiene products in the mall or such compound: For this purpose, a shopping complex without a roof in which the total number of stores, excluding stores not listed in paragraph (2) below, does not exceed 10, will be able to continue its activity. 2. A discotheque, bar, pub, banquet hall, fitness center, swimming pool, water park, zoo, safari, petting zoo, bathhouses, cinemas, theaters, cultural institutions, amusement parks, businesses for non-medical treatment of the human body, places which hold shows and fairs, public boats, cable cars, museum, nature reserve, national park, library, tourist attractions and heritage sites. At the same time, places where restricted activities are permitted under the conditions specified in the regulations have been determined: A dining room, including a hotel dining room; A place to sell food, a pharmacy or a store that mainly deals with the sale of hygiene products; A store other than the stores listed in paragraph (b) (2) |
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Health Ministry: Don’t leave home for non-essential reasonsHealth Ministry issues new guidelines, closing libraries, non-essential stores, and all group activities.Arutz Sheva Staff, 17March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277412 Israel’s Health Ministry on Tuesday issued new guidelines which require Israelis to remain at home other than for necessary outings. These guidelines include: 1. Do not leave home, other than for situations which require it (work in accordance with the guidelines, purchasing food, medication, medical services, and other necessary services). 2. Do not leave home to visit parks, playgrounds, beaches, pools, libraries, museums, nature reserves and parks, or other public spaces, other than children leaving with their families only, or with pets (in an individual fashion). 3. Do not hold extracurricular activities, even with a minimum number of participants. This includes sports and gyms, as well as group activities publicly or privately provided. Unorganized exercise activities of up to five people are allowed, so long as participants can keep a distance of two meters from each other. 4. Keep in contact with friends via technology, and avoid hosting friends and family who do not live in your home. 5. Those who are at increased risk of complications, such as the elderly or those who suffer chronic illness or long-term respiratory issues, including: asthma, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, immune disorders or diseases, cancer patients and patients who are immunocompromised, must avoid leaving their homes as much as possible, other than for necessary services. Instead, they should request the aid of family and friends in keeping their homes supplied with what they need. 6. The following tools should be used to limit outings: 7. While leaving home due to situations which require it, contact between people should be limited, and a distance of two meters between people should be kept. 8. Medical services: Other guidelines:
Guidelines for behavior outside the home: When can you leave the house? How to act when leaving home: How to act at work: Beginning on Sunday, March 22, elective activities in public hospitals will cease. A detailed announcement will be issued on the subject. Commercial stores which are not essential, as the order defines it (such as food, medicine, and toiletries) must close. |
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Public transportation to be halted on nights, weekendsNo buses, trains to operate after 8 PM or from Thursday night until Sunday morning.Arutz Sheva Staff, 17March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277415 The Director of the National Transportation Authority, Amir Asraf, ordered the cessation of public transportation at night due to the coronavirus outbreak. Tonight the new edict will take effect at 10 PM. Beginning tomorrow night all public transportation will cease operations at 8 PM. In addition, public transportation will not run over the weekend. No buses or trains will run from 8 PM on Thursday night until Sunday morning. Public transport will continue during the day on weekdays and will continue to operate in vital locations including employment centers, supermarkets and shopping centers, health funds and hospitals. The Transportation Ministry professionals, under the direction of the Health Ministry, decided to stop public transport to non-essential places, including educational institutions. Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “What is in front of us is the health of Israeli citizens and maintaining maximum functional continuity for the economy, according to the current circumstances. Addressing the citizens of Israel, I understand the difficulties they face, we are on critical days. Please, avoid traveling on public transportation and observe the Health Ministry guidelines.” |
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Corona restrictions: Guidelines for synagoguesFollowing ban on gatherings of over 100 people, World Organization of Orthodox Synagogues publishes updated guidelines.Arutz Sheva Staff, 12March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277171 A. Minyans (prayer gatherings) in which there are usually more than 100 worshipers must to ensure that they do not exceed the number allowed (100 men and women). B. Whenever possible, Shabbat minyans should be split into different hours or places to reduce the number of worshipers. C. Ensure ventilation through open windows in the synagogue. D. Those who do not feel good, and those who develop respiratory symptoms, are not allowed to come to the synagogue. E. It is preferable that people in at-risk groups pray at home. F. Effort should be made not to prolong prayer, and to shorten Torah speeches. G. Be careful not to shake hands, not to kiss a Torah scroll, mezuzah, and prayer books. It is preferable to bring a personal prayer book and Humash (book of the Torah) from home. H. Be careful to wash hands with soap, try to have bottles of alcohol at the entrance to the synagogue. I. At the end of the prayer, people should disperse and not gather outside of the synagogue. J. Please pay attention to neighbors, the elderly, lonely and the like and help them in their daily functioning during this complex time. |
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Chief Rabbi: ‘Health Ministry coronavirus prevention guidelines halakhically binding’Chief Rabbi Lau issues specific prevention guidelines for maintaining Jewish communal and personal life.Mordechai Sones, 12March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277180 Following the recent Health Ministry and other instructions, Israel Chief Rabbi David Lau issued halakhic guidelines on coronavirus disease prevention. Rabbi Lau said: “Last night, the Prime Minister and Health Minister announced precautionary measures that we are obliged to exercise for fear of the spread of coronavirus disease. “These guidelines also apply according to halakha! People should keep from harming others even more than themselves. The coronavirus can also pass from a completely healthy person to another and jeopardize others. This requires strict adherence to instructions given even if they are difficult and burdensome.” Rabbi Lau then listed specific prevention guidelines for maintaining Jewish communal and personal life: Synagogues In accordance with expert guidelines to limit the number of worshipers to one hundred persons, it is compulsory to divide minyanim in synagogues into a number of minyanim, each of which may number up to one hundred persons. Torah learning The routine of life must continue, so one should not cancel a minyan or Torah lessons (unless otherwise determined by those responsible for public health). Yeshivot and educational institutions According to Health Ministry instructions, educational institutions are continuing as usual for now. In the yeshiva world, Torah continues to be learned more intensely, and the power of the Torah and the voice of Torah will stand for all of Israel and the world at large, until other guidelines are given. Mikvah use Family life and family purity laws should be continued and there is no place for fear. A woman who, according to Health Ministry guidelines, is supposed to be in isolation should act as her condition requires. Weddings Do not postpone a wedding due to the current situation. It is preferable to hold it with a small audience than to postpone it. This is also true because we do not know when it will again be possible to hold mass celebrations. Visiting the sick It is an important mitzvah to visit the sick, but in this situation it should be avoided. Nor should homes for the elderly be visited for fear of transmitting the disease. At the same time, one must find a way to help those individuals whose plight is unseen. Rabbi Lau continued: “Adhering to these instructions is a Torah obligation: ‘And you must greatly watch over your lives.’ “The present situation requires much prayer, and therefore at the end of evening, morning, and afternoon prayers one should add chapters 13 and 20 in the Psalms together with the congregation, and the misheberach prayer for the sick. “Also, be sure to say a hundred blessings a day, as the Gaonim wrote that King David mandated that Israel bless one hundred blessings each day when a plague broke out in his time, and the plague stopped.” The Chief Rabbi closed with a prayer: “Save us from sword, captivity, pandemic, and plague, and any kind of trouble and grief. Save us, for our eyes are unto You. See our troubles and hear the voice of our prayer, for You hear prayer. May we celebrate the coming Passover Feast of Redemption with joy, gladness, and together as a nation.” הרב הראשי, דוד לאו: לא לדחות חופות |
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Netanyahu: No gatherings of 100 or more peoplePM Netanyahu, Health Minister Litzman issue new directives in efforts to contain coronavirus outbreak.Arutz Sheva Staff, 11March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277145 |
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New coronavirus restrictionsHealth Ministry bans gatherings of over 2,000 people, discourages visits to hospitals, nursing homes by non-patients.Arutz Sheva Staff, 10March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277101 The Health Ministry announced new guidelines and restrictions in response to the coronavirus outbreak Tuesday evening. The ministry has tightened restrictions on large gatherings from gatherings of 5,000 people to banning gatherings of 2,000 or more people. In addition, visits to hospitals and nursing homes by non-patients should be avoided. People with symptoms of the virus may not accompany patients or visit institutions for the elderly. The Health Ministry recommends that the elderly population, especially those with pre-existing medical conditions, as well as people with weak or compromised immune systems, reduce their contact with other people while maintaining their routine. At the same time, the possibility of closing Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport completely and transferring all airport operations to Terminal 1 is being considered, Channel 12 News reported. |
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Israel imposes 2-week quarantine on all tourists, returning citizens“This was a tough decision to make, but it is essential if we want to safeguard the health of the general public; public health considerations trump everything,” PM Netanyahu says.by Reuters , Israel Hayom Staff Published on 09March2020 https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/03/09/as-coronavirus-crisis-continues-israel-to-impose-2-week-quarantine-to-all-tourists-returning-citizens/ Israel will require all citizens who return from abroad to self-quarantine for 14 days as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
It will admit foreigners only if they can prove they have the means to self-quarantine, Israeli media said, adding that this measure would go into effect on Thursday. “After 24 hours of deliberations, we have made the decision that anyone who enters Israel from abroad will be subject to quarantine for 14 days,” Netanyahu said. “This was a tough decision to make, but it is essential if we want to safeguard the health of the general public; public health trumps everything. This decision will be in effect for two weeks.” The measure would mean quarantine for some 300,000 citizens in a country of around 9 million. Netanyahu added that his office was taking additional steps to ensure Israel’s economy was not adversly affected. So far, 39 Israelis have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus. Over 70,000 Israelis – those who have recently returned from trips to Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, China, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, and Italy, and those exposed to them in various ways – have been ordered into a 14-day home quarantine. This had made travel and trade difficult, with tourism expected to suffer. |
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Coronavirus briefs: Purim impact, increasing travel restrictionsby Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths 05March2020 https://www.mpaths.com/2020/03/coronavirus-briefs-purim-impact.html  Purim-Coronavirus-Mishloach Manot: Corona Extra Beer, Alco-Gel Hand Sanitizer, DEXAMOL Fever Reducer/Pain Killer, Tea and Medical Protective Face Mask Mishloach Manot – shalach manos, the mitzvah of sending gifts to your friends, is a major requirement of Purim. As is hearing the Megillah, having a seudah (large Purim meal) and generally partying, being happy and being very social. “Based on the rulings of Gedolei HaPoskim” – During an epidemic, one should fulfil the mitzvah of Mishloach Manot with just one or two people and instead give more “matanot l’evyonim” – gift charity to the poor. – If authorities declare no gatherings or limited small gatherings, people should not get together in synagogue (for general prayer or to hear the Megillah on Purim). People should instead, staying within the rules given by government and health authorities, make small groups, or just a minyan if that size is allowed, or just 15-20 people well spaced out or masked – to read/hear the Megillah. Hearing through a window or doorway or some distance away is still fulfilling the mitzvah, spread out for safety (more of a problem with children). – If someone is unable to hear the Megillah, (some authorities say) he/she should recite Hallel (instead) without a blessing. – If one can only hear the Megillah once, better day than night. – The Purim Seudah should be kept to small groups such as immediate family (minimise the possibility of group infection). – Heavy drinking and excessive partying while people are suffering from an epidemic is inappropriate. Stay subdued. (Nobody needs pictures of drunken Jews partying appearing on Facebook opposite people in intensive care struggling to breathe.) On the topic of travel, and/or visiting Israel or traveling from Israel to the US for the holidays: — Many European and Asian airlines have suspended travel to Israel as of today until … (the middle of the month, the end of the month, unknown). — United Airlines and Jet Blue in the U.S. have significantly reduced their flight schedule, as less people are flying and as staff is affected by quarantines. — Israel has increased travel restrictions, stopping entry or requiring everyone coming to immediately enter 14 day quarantine upon entering from France, Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea. — Anyone even changing planes in Italy, China, or South Korea gets the 14 day quarantine upon arriving in Israel. (Israeli Ministry of Health Corona site in English for travellers.) ADVICE – High probability things get worse before they get better, more flights will be cancelled, more restrictions added, more events cancelled. Some airlines and hotels may go out of business – make sure you’ve paid with a credit card that gives an easy refund in such a situation (U.S. credit cards are pretty good about this). I advise to cancel and re-plan while you can (while you can get a refund) – or at least have a backup plan in case your primary plans end up in the toilet. Don’t freak out, think through an alternative “just in case”. As things get worse for a while, you may be able to travel but not return (for some weeks/months) – keep that in mind and plan appropriately. (If mother is coming to visit, that may not be so bad [as long as she can get her medications where you are]. If you and the 5 children went to visit mother, that may be…challenging.) IN ISRAEL – — Large gatherings forbidden (sporting events, stadium events, concerts) For an example of worse or “farther along”, take a look at Italy, all schools closed nationwide and no public events that don’t allow “1 meter separation”. RUMORS – – Events over 100 people may be prohibited.  Symptoms of the Novel Coronavirus CoVid-19: fever, Cough, Shortness of Breath May Hashem grant a quick solution and end to this plague, keep all klal Yisroel and everyone safe and healthy. Pray, think, prepare. Torah is Toras Chayim, you are required to take steps to live and not risk your life unnecessarily. |
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Health Ministry Coronavirus guidelinesHealth Minister: We are in control of Coronavirus situation.Arutz Sheva Staff, 04March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/276830 “We are in control of the situation and are doing everything that can be done. We don’t know where this virus is coming from, so we are preparing for everything that could happen,” Litzman said in an interview with Kan Bet. He added: “If everyone had obeyed the Health Ministry’s instructions from the beginning – we wouldn’t have come to anything. The difference between the State of Israel and other countries is that we can tell everyone about the Coronavirus, where it appeared and when.” In response to criticism from the Foreign Ministry and the public about the Health Ministry’s instructions, Litzman said, “The prime minister actually supported me. He kept saying that it was better to get worse than ease.” The minister also referred to the Prime Minister’s statement that this is a worldwide epidemic “perhaps the most dangerous of the last century.” “He spoke the truth,” Litzman said. Earlier, the Ministry of Health issued the following guidelines. 1. Israelis returning from France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Austria will be charged with home isolation for 14 days, the decision being retroactive from the date of departure. 2. Foreigners from these countries will not be able to enter Israel, but will exhibit a proven ability to isolate a home. Implementation of this decision will take effect in the coming days. 3. Prohibition on holding international conferences in Israel. 4. Residents of Israel returning from international conferences abroad – will have to enter home isolation for 14 days. 5. Health care workers face a blanket ban on going abroad. 6. Mass gatherings and conferences of 5,000 or more people are prohibited. 7. Participation in gatherings of over 100 persons is prohibited for persons returning from any destination abroad in the last 14 days. 8. The Civil Service Commissioner to prohibit workers at Israeli ports from traveling abroad. 9. Recommendation for those aged 60 and over and those with chronic background illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, respiratory disease or immunosuppression, to avoid crowds and contact with people returning from any destination abroad or with symptoms or people suspected of being blue. 10. Tourists staying in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon (in the last 14 days) will not be allowed to enter the country. 11. The Health Ministry recommends strict hygiene and avoiding handshakes. |
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200 Israeli Students, Teachers, Quarantined following Contact with Infected Korean PilgrimsHana Levi Julian 28 Shevat 5780 – 23February2020 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/government-israel/90-israeli-students-in-self-quarantine-after-exposure-to-south-korean-tourists-diagnosed-with-covid-19/2020/02/23/ As of Saturday night, 200 Israeli students and at least 15 teachers are under a self-quarantine after having been exposed to a delegation of South Korean tourists who were subsequently diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus after they returned to their country. A decision was made this weekend by Israel to bar foreign nationals entering from South Korea, adding that country to a list that so far includes China, Japan, Macau, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand. The infected tourists visited Israel between February 8-15. 200 Foreign Nationals Not Allowed to Disembark at Ben Gurion Airport Ninety students plus 10 teachers and chaperones from a school in Afula were added to the list of those who are to be quarantined at home late Saturday night. 30 Israeli Students Quarantined After Contact with 9 Coronavirus-Infected Korean Pilgrims Thirty eighth-graders and their two teachers from a school in Be’er Sheva had already been instructed earlier in the day on Saturday to enter home isolation after it turned out they had stood near the group of South Korean tourists who were diagnosed upon their return to their homeland. The students and their teachers will remain in isolation until Thursday. Sixty eighth graders, five teachers and a guard from a school in Haifa were also told to self-quarantine at home for 14 days, Israel’s Health Ministry announced on Saturday. The students and the staff members who were with them were visiting the national park at Masada at the same time as the delegation of South Koreans, 19 of whom were subsequently diagnosed with COVID-19. In addition, a group of high school students from the Negev Bedouin town of Keseifa were also at Masada at the same time as the South Koreans, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 13 News. South Korean officials confirmed on Saturday that so far 433 cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus have been diagnosed in the country, and that two people have died of the illness. Since Friday alone, 229 new cases were diagnosed in South Korea. New MDA Hotline Anyone who is required to be in quarantine according to the Health Ministry guidelines, or anyone who has been in contact with a coronavirus patient, or someone who suspects they may be infected with the virus and who has symptoms such as fever, cough, or other respiratory symptoms should call the Magen David Adom 101 Emergency Call Center. Medics and paramedics at the 101 hotline will join the call with the on-call doctor or nurse who then decides to consult with a physician at the Ministry of Health whether there is a need for medical care and if so, how to proceed. According to the patient’s symptoms, a decision is made whether to send an ambulance to evacuate the patient to the hospital, or to send a paramedic to the patient in his home and take a sample to be analyzed without evacuating the patient at this time. The sample will be sent forward to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, in order to deny the presence of Corona virus. If necessary, an ambulance will be called to evacuate the patient to the hospital under special isolation conditions. “Dozens of experienced and professional paramedics have joined the mission, as they recognize the importance of conducting medical examinations in the patient’s home to prevent the spread of the virus in Israel,” said MDA director-general Eli Bin. “Paramedics are protected at the highest level, using dedicated anti-infection kits, according to the protocol used in infectious cases, where we see routinely.” Dozens of paramedics at Magen David Adom underwent dedicated training on how to collect samples from the patients, in order to deny the presence of the coronavirus. As part of the training, paramedics practiced taking the patient’s samples while staying fully protected against infection. The medics and paramedics in MDA 101 Emergency Call Center were also trained to question and manage the cases. Magen David Adom has developed a special system, where among other things, a video call with the patient can be made. Magen David Adom continues to operate the inspection post at Ben Gurion International Airport, where MDA EMTs and paramedics question travelers and perform tests to those who arrive at the stand in accordance with the medical protocols set by the Ministry of Health. |
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Life under Coronavirus COVID-19Natan Sharansky’s Tips for Quarantineהסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל |
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Pesach in Natan Sharansky’s prison cellAmid restrictions ahead of Pesach, former Prisoner of Zion describes the faith that sustained him during his isolation in Soviet prison.Arutz Sheva Staff, 29March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277955 יציאת מצרים הפרטית שלי – סיפורו של נתן שרנסקי | My personal Exodus – by Natan SharanskyNashimBeYarok 26March2020 As part of the Friday Lectures at Oz veGaon project, in a lecture on-line, former minister and head of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky told the story of his life, especially addressing these days, days of almost total closure and preparation for the approaching Pesach holiday. Sharansky told of his childhood in the Soviet Union, when he knew the term “Jew” only from the anti-Semitic point of view and where most of the Jews in the area he grew up in were devoid of any sign of Jewishness. He also told of the great change that began in ‘67 with the end of the Six Day War. He was then a student who received special attention as a Jew who belonged to the nation that had experienced a miraculous victory in the war. This is when his connection was renewed with the Jewish People, the demonstrations to allow aliyah to Israel and for human rights that won international resonance, as well as the story of his marriage to Avital, who immigrated to Israel the day after their wedding and waited for him 12 years while conducting a world-wide struggle. In his story he described the night of the Seder spent in the cell where he was placed by the Soviet authorities and the eve of Israel Independence Day that he celebrated while isolated in his prison cell but in his heart, together with the People of Israel as one big family. Sharansky concluded by emphasizing the idea that even if we are not with our family on the eve of the approaching Seder, we should remember how we are one big family, how strong we are because of this feeling, how it is not important if we are alone or at a large table, we are a People with a shared history, a shared future and a very special role in this world. Ahm Yisrael Hai! (The People of Israel lives)! |
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Pesach Seder: Protect your Grandparents We all stay home on Passover
 Arsen-strovsky-tweet-30March2020 Powerful message from @naftalibennett to Jewish communities around the world ahead of #Pesach: “Do the Pesach Seder in the very nuclear family. You do not do it this year with grandma and grandpa. There will be no Pesach Seder with young people and old people.” |
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Daily Halachic Corner – Rav Dayan Elgrod!Coronavirus Covid-19: Search for ChametzDaily Halachic Corner – 110 – CoronaVirus 17- Pesach – Rav Dayan Elgrod!Breslev English 06April2020
Coronavirus Covid-19: Sell your ChametzThe Corona Virus 14- Daily Halachic Corner – 107 – Rav Dayan Elgrod!Breslev English 01April2020
Coronavirus Covid-19: What Matzah can I eat?Daily Halachic Corner – 109 – The Corona Virus 16- Pesach – Rav Dayan Elgrod!Breslev English 05April2020
Coronavirus Covid-19: Cleaning for PesachThe Corona Virus 11- Daily Halachic Corner – 104 – Rav Dayan Elgrod!Breslev English 29March2020
Coronavirus Covid-19: Guarding you Mouth from the Coronavirus – Lashon HarahThe Corona Virus 8- Daily Halachic Corner – 101 – Rav Dayan Elgrod!Breslev English 24March2020 |
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Watch live: Happy Mobile traverses Jerusalem neighborhoodsMayor Moshe Leon and Jerusalem’s Happy Mobile arrive in the Har Homa with Yishai Lapidot, singer Eyal Twito, and keyboardist Yanki Azulai.Arutz Sheva Staff , 25March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277791 משאית השמחה של ראש העיר ירושלים בשכונת הר חומהArutz Sheva TV 25March2020 |
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Coronavirus: Effort or Emuna?22 March 2020 https://www.brodyhealth.com/2020/03/coronavirus-effort-or-emuna.html People are confused, especially when some rabbis have padlocked their synagogues while for others, it’s business as usual. Many are asking me if listening to one’s local medical authorities and refraining from praying in a synagogue or immersing in a men’s mikva constitutes a lack of emuna. Today’s podcast provides a detailed answer…
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It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH UK 0800 075 7200 Come home to the Land of EmunaNefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il 24 people make aliyah, go directly into quarantine24 new olim arrive on Nefesh B’Nefesh flight despite coronavirus crisis, go straight into 2-week isolation.Arutz Sheva Staff, 19March2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/277532 Twenty-four new Olim landed at Ben Gurion airport today through a Nefesh B’Nefesh group Aliyah flight, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and Jewish National Fund-USA. The Olim on this flight were comprised of 10 families and singles ranging in ages from a nine-month-old to a 73-year-old, including two sisters who decided to make Aliyah together; hailing from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. In addition to today’s Olim, Nefesh B’Nefesh is expecting 20 more Olim to arrive over the course of the next two weeks. “It is truly remarkable to see that Aliyah is continuing amidst increasingly complex global circumstances,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “These new Olim, more than ever, represent the strong future of the State of Israel as they are determined to fulfill their dreams of helping to build the Jewish Nation. We are ready to assist them throughout their entire Aliyah process in order for them to settle into their new homes as smoothly and comfortably as possible during these challenging times.” Nefesh B’Nefesh has set up a dedicated hotline for the new arrivals during this time in order to maintain as close contact as possible and lend any support needed. In addition, special funding has been allocated for this purpose in order to offer any additional assistance needed at this time. Today’s new Olim will be moving directly into quarantine for fourteen days in cities all across Israel, including Jerusalem, Be’er Sheva, Holon, Modi’in, Netanya, Ra’anana, Tzfat and Yad Binyamin. This group flight is one of several planned for 2020. Among the Olim who landed this morning were Aviva and Tzvi Karoly with their two young children: “When we first learned that we would likely be put in mandatory quarantine upon arrival, I was a bit freaked out. However, within minutes of my posting on a Facebook page for the community I was inundated with volunteers offering to bring us groceries, toys, books and anything else we might need. Complete strangers were literally lining up to help us,” said new Olah Aviva Karoly in a goodbye letter to her community of Washington Heights, NY. “How amazing are the people of Modi’in, and we are so excited to be part of this community. There are literally piles of supplies stocked outside our door just waiting for us to come home.” JerusalemCats Comments:Kol ha-kavod on the new Olim!!! For those who want to stay in the Diaspora there is a new import from China:
China invokes HOLOCAUST HORRORS as 40 mobile incineration ovens are deployed in Wuhan, labeled for disposal of “animal corpses”19February2020 by: Mike Adams https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-02-19-china-holocaust-horrors-incineration-ovens-burn-animal-corpses.html  Image: China invokes HOLOCAUST HORRORS as 40 mobile incineration ovens are deployed in Wuhan, labeled for disposal of “animal corpses” The words on the side of these incineration ovens say, “Garbage and Animal Corpse Placement Receptacle.” (Natural News) Remember 13 days ago when we warned that “cremation vans” were running 24/7 in Wuhan, China while the crematoriums were backlogged with piles of dead bodies stacked in the cremation queues? Now China has brought in 40 mobile incineration ovens to burn and destroy what the Chinese government calls “medical waste.” As you can see in the photos below, the incineration ovens are labeled for the disposal of “animal corpses.” The deployment of incineration ovens, combined with the grotesque violations of basic human rights now being routinely committed by China in response to the pandemic, has invoked memories of the horrors related to the Holocaust of World War II. As reported by the UK Daily Star, these incineration ovens are built to the size of 20-foot transport containers, and each can incinerate about 30 cubic meters of material. “Reportedly the incinerators have been sanctioned for the use by the Chinese military after a test in Golmud, Qinghai in January,” says the Daily Star.
 Incineration ovens along with some crew members
In the Chicago Area you now have Mobile Morgue Trailers for the dead:Mobile Morgue Trailers Being Deployed Near Major US CitiesNation News Desk 23 March 2020 https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/news-nation/mobile-morgue-trailers-being-deployed-near-major-us-cities In one of the most ominous developments in the U.S. Coronavirus outbreak, Mobile Morgue Trailers are being deployed outside of major US cities. For those who still erroneously think “This is just the Flu” may we respectfully point out that never before have mobile morgue trailers been deployed for victims of flu; This outbreak is NOT “just a Flu.” And for those who are just flat out stupid, the reason these morgue trailers are being deployed is because officials believe the number of dead bodies coming from this outbreak will overwhelm local coroner’s offices  Mobile Morgue Trailers on a farm in Joliet, IL, southwest of Chicago MEDICAL MARTIAL LAW is coming to America |
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How to deal with and enjoy quarantine with your cats during COVID-19 |
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From a 28April2020 Email Grandpa’s corona memoriesChild – “How old are you, Grandpa?” They told us about how all the schools had closed. And moms and dads couldn’t go to work so didn’t have as much money to do nice things. That must have been so horrible, grandpa!” Grandpa – “Well, that is all correct. I remember playing in the garden for hours with mom and dad and having picnics outside and lots of bbqs. It was a horrible time for lots of people you are right. Remember how our children will remember these times. Author unknown ♥ ♥ |
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Israel and the demise of the global villageIsrael’s ability to protect itself and adapt its economy to the new post-global village reality will in large part determine how it survives and prospers in the post-global village world now taking shape.By Caroline B. Glick 27March2020 https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/israel-and-the-demise-of-the-global-village/ In the face of the steeply rising number of coronavirus patients and the breakneck speed of political changes in Israel, few people have stopped to notice that the world we have grown accustomed to living in for the past generation is falling apart. The global village is collapsing under the weight of the pandemic. How Israel deals with this dramatic turn of events today, and in the coming weeks, months and years will determine both how we emerge from the present crisis and how we manage in the new world now taking form.
Israel’s food supply system is a perfect example of the global changes to being wrought by the virus. In Israel, five basic foodstuffs are produced locally: fruits, vegetables, eggs, poultry, and milk. Most grains, sugar, rice, salt, meat, and other foodstuffs are imported. Out of a total agricultural workforce of 70,000, 25,000 are migrant workers from Thailand and another 25,000 are from the Palestinian Authority. According to Agriculture Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, concerns over the coronavirus prevented 1,500 workers from Thailand scheduled to arrive at the beginning of the month from entering the country. The Palestinian workforce is down to 18,000 and dropping due to the quarantine the PA has placed on its population. The labor shortages couldn’t come at a worse time. Currently, there are a half billion shekels worth of fruit and vegetables ready for harvest. If they aren’t picked in the next three weeks, they will rot on the trees and in the fields. Three weeks ago, the HaShomer HaHadash organization began getting flooded with calls from farmers for help. HaShomer HaHadash is a volunteer agricultural support organization founded in 2007 to protect Israeli farmers from Arab and Bedouin criminal gangs who extort farmers and ranchers and carry out agricultural theft and sabotage on a massive level. “These calls were different,” explains HaShomer HaHadash’s leader Yoel Zilberman. “We are used to receiving calls about sabotage, and extortion and sending our volunteers to guard and herd. These calls were about the harvest, the national food supply.” Zilberman and his colleagues realized the implications of the loss of a harvest for Israel’s food supply and began drawing up a plan to help the distressed farmers. Two weeks ago, Zilberman approached Hanegbi and offered to organize a corps of volunteers to save the harvest. Comprised of the organization’s roster of volunteers, cadets at pre-military leadership academies, youth movement alumni and from twelfth graders, Zilberman’s volunteers would work in shifts in the fields. With government finance, Hashomer Hahadash would provide for all their needs. Hanegbi agreed. Last week, the government approved an emergency order to organize the corps of volunteers. The first hundred young people arrived in the fields on Tuesday. Operating in compliance with Health Ministry guidelines, HaShomer HaHadash launched a smartphone application called “Sundo” where prospective volunteers can join the operation. Zilberman plans to expand his roll of volunteers to include foreign students stranded in Israel with nothing to do after the coronavirus caused their programs to be canceled. He assesses there are up to twenty thousand foreign youth in Israel who could potentially join in the effort. To be sure, this initiative, which will hopefully enable Israel to surmount the coronavirus-induced international labor shortage, is intended to be a short-term fix. All parties to the initiative assume that once the crisis abates, labor flows will return to their pre-coronavirus levels. But there is no way to know whether this assessment is correct. The coronavirus-induced shortage in migrant, agricultural laborers points to a much wider phenomenon that is unlikely to disappear when the quarantines are over. The coronavirus pandemic won’t destroy global markets. But it will change them radically and reduce their size and scope. In the case of agriculture, the coronavirus has exposed large-scale vulnerabilities in both agricultural import models and domestic production. At the outset of the crisis, cargo ships laden with foodstuffs from China and Italy were laid up in the ports for weeks until port workers and the Health Ministry could develop protocols for safely offloading them. Dozens of shipments were diverted to Cyprus, at great cost to importers. Who is to say that food supplies in China or other countries won’t be compromised again in the future? And what happens in the event of war? Naval warfare can easily endanger food imports to Israel over a prolonged period. The model of dependence on foreign suppliers needs to be adapted in the face of what we are learning. As to domestic production, according to Hanegbi, over the past decade, the number of Israelis engaged in agriculture has decreased by 60 percent as the children of farmers are choosing other professions. Obviously, this is a major vulnerability. Israel needs food security and food security means expanding our domestic agricultural capacity. The incoming government needs to develop a national plan to support domestic agriculture and inspire young people to choose agriculture as a profession and way of life. In Israel, the next crisis is always just around the corner. And the next war or pandemic may make our current endangered harvest look like child’s play. What is true in relation to agriculture is doubly true in relation to manufacturing. As we are finding in our race to purchase more respirators, it is ill-advised in the extreme to depend on foreign suppliers for food, medical equipment, and medicines in times of crisis. Until January 2020, it seemed perfectly rational to outsource manufacturing to China. Now, as we face global shortages in respirators and other medical equipment, it is obvious that China is not a trustworthy supplier. This week Jim Geraghty published a timeline of China’s deception of the world regarding the nature of the coronavirus in the National Review. Geraghty showed that Chinese authorities in Wuhan realized the virus was spread between humans in the first week of December. But it wasn’t until January 20 that the Chinese admitted that this was the case. In the intervening six weeks, the Chinese lied repeatedly about the infectiousness of the virus and jailed doctors and citizen journalists who tried to warn the Chinese people and the world of the danger. Also during those six weeks, five million people left Wuhan. Scores of thousands of them got on airplanes and flew to Europe and the US bringing the virus with them. Still today, the Chinese are apparently hiding critical information about the virus from the world. While the Western media heralds the Chinese success in bringing the infection rate down to zero inside China, Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported this week that the Chinese data are phony. Physicians in Wuhan told the agency’s reporters that the reason the rate of infection has dropped to zero is because the Chinese authorities have banned testing. The coronavirus exposed a truth that global village fans have spent the past generation denying: Borders are important. From 1997 until the coronavirus, Europe’s internal national borders were all open. Over the past few weeks, 15 EU member states have shut their doors and thrown away the key. Germany – the birthplace of the vision of the European common market and nation – initially banned the export of protective medical equipment to its European “brethren.” When the Italians begged for help, no EU member state sent in medical teams to save their fellow Europeans. If just last month, the heads of the European Commission had the last word in all discussions among EU member states, today no one cares what they have to say. As Professor Thomas Jaeger from the University of Cologne told the Los Angeles Times, “We’re seeing an enormous delegitimation of the authority of the EU government in this crisis. The longer the crisis lasts, the more nationalism will return.” In many ways, regardless of how long it lasts, the pandemic has already taken a permanent toll on the European Union. EU members have taken one another’s measure and realized that when push comes to shove, they have only their own peoples and governments to rely on. The Italians and Spaniards aren’t likely to care what the feckless bureaucrats in Brussels or the selfish Germans have to say about their national policies after this is over. The same goes for the UN and other major international governing institutions. UN Ambassador Danny Danon wrote Wednesday in Israel Hayom that this is the UN’s finest hour. In his words, “UN institutions, particularly the World Health Organization, are proving that the organization remains the main body that the world needs in its struggle with Corona.” Danon is mistaken, however. The WHO has played an unhelpful, indeed destructive role in this crisis. As Geraghty and others have shown, the WHO was a full partner in China’s dissimulation efforts. The WHO waited until January 21, after the first coronavirus patient was diagnosed in the US, to admit that it is transferred between people despite the fact that WHO officials knew that humans infected one another in early January. This week an Oxford-based research group announced it will no longer base its coronavirus assessments on WHO data, which it considers not credible. This week Walter Russell Mead noted in the Wall Street Journal that international organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization are playing no significant role in the global fight against the coronavirus. National leaders and agencies, who are directly responsible for protecting their people are calling the shots irrespective of WHO rules and IMF spending guidelines. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the critical failings of the global village model for international integration. International labor markets, global trade and international governing institutions have proven vulnerable to shocks, unreliable and of limited use. It has also reminded us of foundational truths that have been shunted aside since the end of the Cold War. National borders protect nations. National authorities and fellow citizens are far more reliable and helpful in times of crisis than transnational, and international organizations. To survive and protect themselves from global shocks, nations must have autarkic agricultural and manufacturing capabilities. China is not a reliable industrial base. Israel’s ability to protect itself today, and adapt its economy to the new post-global village reality will in large part determine how it survives and prospers in the post-global village world now taking shape. |
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Nature reclaims global cities as people stay homeThe sight of ibex strolling down the beachfront promenade in Israel’s city of Eilat recently shocked the locals; as humans retreat to their homes in wake of pandemic, wildlife steps out of the shadows and returns to the habitats it once ruledAFP | Published: 30March2020 https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/HkrN7IkvU#autoplay As more and more countries go under coronavirus lockdown and as humans retreat into their homes, wild animals are slipping cover to explore the empty streets of some of our biggest cities. Israelis were captivated by the sight of ibex strolling down the beachfront promenade in Eilat, while wild boar have descended from the hills around Barcelona and sika deer are nosing their way around the deserted metro stations of Nara, Japan.
Indian social media has gone wild about footage of a stag scampering through Dehradun, the capital of the northern state of Uttarakhand. Gangs of wild turkeys have been strutting the streets of Oakland, California, while a puma turned up in the center of the Chilean capital Santiago, which is under curfew.  Puma walks in the locked-down streets of Santiago, Chile (Photo: AFP) “This is the habitat they once had and that we’ve taken away from them,” said Marcelo Giagnoni, the head of Chile’s agricultural and livestock service that helped police capture the curious big cat. While sightings of dolphins in Venice’s canals turned out to be fanciful, they have been popping up in ports elsewhere in the Mediterranean as emboldened wildlife takes “free rein to wander our cities and towns”, said Romain Julliard, head of research at the French Natural History Museum. Julliard told AFP that foxes were at the vanguard of the new urban explorers. ‘Spring of love’Animals and birds that normally live in urban parks, like sparrows and pigeons are also more likely to venture beyond their usual territories, Julliard said, “freeing space for other animals”.  Sika deer wandering the deserted streets of Nara, Japan (Photo: AFP) While the dawn and dusk choruses have been bringing comfort to many quarantined city dwellers, the museum’s acoustics specialist Jerome Sueur said that doesn’t mean there are more urban birds than before. It is more that with reduced traffic noise we can hear them better. Some, however, “stop singing when there is noise, so now they are letting themselves go.” “Animals are shaking off human noise pollution,” Sueur said. And the timing could not have been better as they embark on their mating season. With the hunting season suspended in several European countries, this promises to be a spring and possibly a summer of love for the animal kingdom.  A deer watches passersby in Nara, Japan (Photo: AFP) It is certainly great news for species like the common toad and the spotted salamander. The amorous amphibians are being spared from being “crushed crossing busy roads” in their haste to find a mate, said Jean-Noel Rieffel, of the French biodiversity office (OFB). With few dog walkers to disturb them, baby fawns are also getting an idyllic start to life while birds like Mediterranean gulls who nest along the sandy banks of rivers are being left undisturbed. In the Calanques National Park overlooking the Mediterranean near France’s second-largest city of Marseille, wildlife “is reclaiming its natural habitat with surprising speed”, said the park’s president, Didier Reault. Stuck indoors, with their worlds reduced to a few square meters (yards), confined urbanites have suddenly become avid birdwatchers.  Dolphins sighted in the Mediterranean off the coast of France (Photo: AFP) British ornithologist David Lindo, who is known as the “Urban Birder”, has been tweeting and live streaming birds he spots from the roof of the building in Spain where he has been quarantined. “The sky is a great arena, anything can fly past and, at the very least, it will give you peace. My message is simple: keep looking up,” he told his new-found followers. However, there are also downsides to the lockdown for nature. Work to limit invasive species has been all but halted, cautioned Loic Obled of the OFB, as well as that to help endangered species. With walkers and boating banned, “the puffins who used to stay on the islets in the highest protected areas are not gathering on the sea,” he said. Birdwatching to stay saneAnd it is the same for plants. Wild orchids – which are supposed to be protected – are often picked by walkers when they blossom in late April and May, said Rieffel. This year they will be spared that fate. And in the cities and suburbs, unmowed lawns will be a source of “bounty for bees, bumblebees and butterflies”, Julliard added.  Ducks wandering the abandoned streets of Paris (Photo: AFP) But for him, the biggest change is the effect this is having on humans. “The most important phenomenon perhaps is our relationship with nature changing – with people locked up in their homes realizing how much they miss nature,” he said. And when the lockdown finally ends, Rieffel warned that “people will have a need of nature and there is a risk of too many visitors [to natural parks], which won’t be good for the flora and fauna. “The birds which have nested in the yard of an abandoned school or factory will find themselves disturbed, he warned. Nature’s respite from man may be rather short-lived. |
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Happy Cows Invade Empty Nature Preserve Near HaifaBy David Israel  Happy cows at Nof Galim Preserve
Nof Galim is a nature preserve located on the beach alongside Highway 2, just south of Haifa, on either side of the Oren Stream, which is a full-blown river these days.  Happy cows at Nof Galim Preserve / Ilya Baskin / Nature and Parks Authority The Israel Nature and Parks Authority discovered on Wednesday that a small herd of peaceful cows started grazing along the riverbank, and were able to maintain their lifestyle of grazing and standing in the sun unmolested, since the country was under curfew for the last Passover holiday. |
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Israel ranks ‘safest’ country during coronavirus pandemic
Deep Analysis Of Global Pandemic Data Reveals Important InsightsAI Co-founder and Managing Partner at Deep Knowledge Group
 Top 40 Covid-19 safety countries ranking
Top 40 Safety Countries Ranking A massive amount of data about the pandemic is generated every day. Although organizations such as WHO, CDC, Johns Hopkins University, and Worldometers are disseminating important statistics daily, the data is not analyzed in an efficient way to provide insights. The COVID-19 pandemic is a complex system involving biology, human behavior, companies, and governments, and it’s influenced by healthcare, economics, governance, and geopolitics. Sophisticated analytical methods could help improve economic, societal, and geopolitical stability. Deep Knowledge Group has developed advanced analytical frameworks to analyze this data. The results are presented in the form of open source country rankings to help people and governments make informed decisions that maximize beneficial outcomes for humanity. When the seriousness of the pandemic became clear, Deep Knowledge Group adapted its existing analytical frameworks, previously applied to complex domains such as as AI for Drug Discovery and NeuroTech, to the global COVID-19 pandemic landscape. A team of experts collected and analyzed data generated for 200 countries around the world. The results, based on deep analysis of 60 countries, was released today. To communicate the insights in a practical way, the analysts developed a ranking system. The rankings can be used as a tool for businesses and governments to aid in effective decision making and could assist response efforts in order to maximize health, stabilize economies, and help communities reopen for business. The analytical methodology will be adjusted over the next few months for advanced and qualitative assessment and AI may be used to analyze this data in the most efficient way.
 Covid-19 safety countries ranking Methodology
COVID-19 Complexity Demands Sophisticated AnalyticsThe COVID-19 analytical frameworks have been designed to rapidly assess the changing situation in countries as they strive to mitigate the health and economic consequences of the virus. Big Data Analysis is applied to quantified and relevant parameters. By comparing them in tangible ways, they are able to serve as practical tools for decision makers. The analytics are fact-based and unbiased and can be accessed free of charge. Proprietary metrics and analytical techniques may be disclosed to relevant organizations and responsible governmental bodies. The analysis revealed that some countries proved very effective at combating COVID-19 early on. These countries focused on early prevention by deploying quarantine measures before the number of confirmed cases surpassed 50,000, and using efficient methods for treating hospitalized patients. For example, China and Germany rapidly mobilizing emergency efforts early on to contain the virus and increase hospital capacity. They utilized technologies including AI, robotics, and big data analysis, in combination with medical treatment and healthcare management techniques structured in a sophisticated way. Coronavirus Health Safety Countries Ranking
 covid-19-health safety index https://www.dkv.global/covid-19-health-safety
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 Total Confirmed deaths covid-19 March2020 – 22April2020 by Country https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-deaths-covid-19?year=2020-04-12&time=2020-03-01..&country=BRA+FRA+DEU+IND+ITA+KOR+ESP+TUR+GBR+USA
 Total confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people Jan-Apr 2020 country=ISR+BEL+GBR+USA+CHE+SWE+IRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-covid-deaths-per-million?tab=chart&year=2020-05-06&time=2020-01-15..&country=BEL+IRL+ISR+SWE+CHE+GBR+USA [JerusalemCats comments: Thank you Hashem for protecting Eretz Israel and the Jews living here. We can only place our trust in You!
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Latma 2020, Corona Days, Episodenewlatmatv 07April2020 Our health correspondent explains the statistics on the statistics, Gantz’s voice changes and our favorite, Tawil Fadiha, in his first interview this season |
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Israeli 18-25s volunteer in droves to help during coronaLev Echad, an NGO that activates whenever there’s a crisis, has thousands of young adults in Israel and hundreds in the US pitching in wherever needed.By Abigail Klein Leichman April 14, 2020, https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-18-25s-volunteer-in-droves-to-help-during-corona/  A Lev Echad volunteer in Israel.Photo by Ariel Liebman The undisputed heroes of the coronavirus pandemic are the men and women working long shifts in all our hospitals. But many of them couldn’t get to work without a corona-compliant childcare alternative. This is being provided at 16 Israeli medical centers by an extraordinary volunteer organization called Lev Echad (One Heart) Community Crisis Aid. Founded in 2005, Lev Echad is like a phoenix: It goes dormant between disasters and awakens quickly when the next emergency hits. Lev Echad’s volunteer leaders, all in their early 20s, use personal connections and social media to recruit thousands of young citizens quickly, working hand in hand with local authorities to place them where needed most. In the current situation, Lev Echad has about 12,422 active volunteers (and counting) plus another 13,000 on reserve. Most volunteers are between 18 and 25 years old. On any given day, hundreds of them go out to accomplish a range of needed activities. “We have five operation centers across the country where people can call in and tell us what they need,” says coordinator Idan Dardik, 23. As of April 12, the total number of incoming calls was nearing 8,000. “Hundreds of calls are received every day: people in quarantine who need help with grocery shopping; elderly people who seek assistance with buying medicine; a single mother who needs to get her child to a medical treatment; people in need who are usually helped by a charity that is now suspended; and many, many more,” he says. Referrals are made to appropriate organizations when relevant. “We try to understand what is already being done by other organizations and pitch in to cover what is not being covered,” says Dardik. Daycare for the children of medical personnel was one of those unfilled needs. Lev Echad worked with each hospital to find nearby spaces where about 80 volunteers care for some 500 children in small fixed groups according to Health Ministry guidelines.
 Lev Echad volunteers caring for hospital workers’ children during the corona crisis. Photo: courtesy In addition, close to 300 Lev Echad volunteers are distributing meals to the doors of thousands of residents in 15 cities. Another 166 are serving as “big brothers” and about 85 volunteers are assisting farmers. Forty-five volunteer city coordinators determine with local officials where to direct assistance. “In small towns, everyone understands who needs help and how to give it, but in cities we’re trying to work on the neighborhood level to organize the same kind of help,” Dardik tells ISRAEL21c. “In this way we want to build a new Israel.” From wars to snowstorms Lev Echad began with students from Ein Prat Academy for Leadership, a values-based program for secular and religious men and women in the year between high school and mandatory military service. In the summer of 2005, several Ein Prat participants rushed to help thousands of Israelis whom the government had forcibly evacuated from the Gaza Strip without providing adequate employment and housing alternatives. “A year later, during the Lebanon War, the group mobilized again and decided to activate every time there is a crisis in Israel — anything from a war to a snowstorm in Jerusalem,” says Dardik. “We decided to open it again for the coronavirus crisis.” Ein Prat alum Asher Katz, 23, joined with some army buddies in building communities along the Gaza border two years ago. The aim of their organization, Garin Hachayalim, is to assist people in towns like Sderot whenever missile attacks are launched from Gaza. Additional communities have been established in other border areas of Israel as well. Katz took over the reins of Lev Echad around the same time, recruiting many Garin Hachayalim members as volunteers – including Dardik – to enable the “phoenix” to rise quickly in times of need. Lev Echad in the USA When the pandemic hit, Katz was in Manhattan developing a Zionist youth leadership movement sponsored by the Moise Safra Center. “I was experienced in working with communities in times of crisis and I know how its members can be the biggest asset,” Katz tells ISRAEL21c. “I saw the outbreak as an opportunity to make communities work this way using the same method that we had in Israel.”  A Lev Echad volunteer in New York. Photo: courtesy Since March, Katz and volunteer assistants have recruited more than 300 volunteers aged 17 to 25, many of them from the new youth movement. There are also Lev Echad groups in Los Angeles and Dallas. Lev Echad Manhattan volunteer Daniel Peters, 21, says the group responds to requests. For example, they’ve run errands for families dealing with cancer, and they did essential shopping for an elderly couple whose only child lives in another country. “She turned to us, and within a day her parents had what they needed.” Some volunteers are assisting temporarily closed soup kitchens in the monumental task of packing meals to deliver to regular clients. Peters said each organization that asks for volunteers must provide protective personal equipment such as facemasks. For individual missions, Lev Echad provides it if the volunteer doesn’t have it. While Lev Echad in Israel is funded by individual donors, its new sister in the United States is funded by the Moise Safra Center. “The Jewish community here has so many volunteer organizations that do wonderful work. But they were all trying to get specific volunteers for specific tasks,” says Katz. “We introduced the Lev Echad model where you bring a huge mass of people and they’re ready for whatever they are needed for.” For more information, click here |
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